Wild sports of the west

WILD SPORTS
OF THE WEST

Drawn W ICeo. Morrow

We pushed our hats aside, peeped over and saw an old
stag, a younger one, and a doe"

Every • Irishman's • Library

General Editors : AI.HRED PHRCEVAi, GRAVES, M.A.
WIW.IAM MAGKNNIS, M.A. DOUGLAS HYDE, LL.D.

WILD SPORTS OF
THE WEST

BY W. H. MAXWELL

................

WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL
OF DUNRAVEN. K.P., P.C..C.M.G.

DUBLIN:

THE TALBOT PRESS LIMITED
89 TALBOT STREET

PRINTED BY THE

EDUCATIONAL COMPANY

OF IRELAND LIMITED

AT THE TALBOT PRESS

DUBLIN

PREFATORY NOTE.

WILLIAM HAMILTON MAXWELL (1792-1850) born at
Ncwry, County Down, was the son of James Maxwell,
of the Maxwells of Nithsdale. His mother was the
daughter of William Hamilton of good family. He
entered Trinity College, Dublin, at the age of 15, and
graduated there with distinction, and afterwards served
in the Peninsular Campaigns and at Waterloo, as a Captain
in the 88th Regiment.

On the disbanding of the forces, he returned to Newry
and spent some years desultorily, reading, hunting and
shooting, and got into money difficulties, but mended
his fortune by marriage and took holy orders, obtaining
the living of Ballagh, in Connemara, a place without a
congregation, but full of game.

Here he wrote his first novel, " O'Hara " ; *' Wild
Sports ot the West," praised by Professor Wilson in
' Noctes Ambrosianae " as the work of a true sportsman ;
<% Stories of Waterloo," his best known work ; a " Life
of the Duke of Wellington," repeatedly reprinted ; " A
History ot the Rebellion in 1798"; and was also the
author of a variety of sketches and novels chiefly on
sporting and military subjects, and many magazine
articles It may be said of him that if Maginn's
" O'Doherty " suggested the Irish military novel.
Maxwell anticipated his friend and admirer, Charles
Lever, in this literary direction.

In appearance Maxwell was tall and good-looking,
a brilliant conversationalist, and an agreeable host and
guest

But he made no provision for the future, and after
spending several years in ill-health and distress, retired
to Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, where he died on
29th December, 1850.

2061043

CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAPTER I. — Autobiography i

CHAPTER II. — Connaught 3

CHAPTER III.— Journey Continued 18

CHAPTER IV.— The Mad Major 22

CHAPTER V.— Progress into Terra Incognita ... ... 28

CHAPTER VI.— Hooking my first Salmon 34

CHAPTER VII.— The Blind Seal 40

CHAPTER VIII. — Piscatory Disquisitions 48

CHAPTER IX.— Sporting Topography of Mayo 54

CHAPTER X.— Salmon Fishing Described 60

CHAPTER XI.— Preparations for Mullet Fishing 67

CHAPTER XII.— Fish Found in Mayo 76

CHAPTER XIII.— Grouse Shooting 83

CHAPTER XIV. — The Otter-Hunter's History 91

CHAPTER XV.— Red Deer 99

CHAPTER XVI.— A Blank Fishing Day 107

CHAPTER XVII.— Visiting Achil 115

CHAPTER XVIII.— The Eagle's Cliff 125

CHAPTER XIX.— Signs of Fish 138

CHAPTER XX.— The Colonel's Story 149

CHAPTER XXI.— A Brave Resistance 162

iv CONTENT*.

CHAPTER XXII.— SpiUet Fishing 166

CHAPMR XXIII. — Guns and Gun -Making i75

CHAPTER XXIV.— On the Moors 184

CHAPTER XXV. — The Legend of Knock -a- thample 192

CHAPTER XXVI.— The Colonel's Wager 204

CHAPTER XXVII.— Ghosts and Fairies 214

CHAPTER XXVIII.— Deer Stalking 225

CHAPTER XXIX. — A Sportsman's Dinner 236

CHAPTER XXX.— Wild Cats 250

CHAPTER XXXI. — The Legend of Rose Roche 258

CHAPTER XXXII.— Distillation 276

CHAPTER XXXIII. — Last Day's Shooting 285

CHAPTER XXXIV.— The " Jane " Runs a Cargo ; Not the

Man for Galway ... ... ... 293

CHAPTER XXXV.— Death of the Otter-Killer 33o

CHAPTER XXXVL— Winter Shooting ... ... ... 34o

CHAPTER XXXVII. — Cock -Shoo ting in Achil 347

CHAPTER XXXVIII.— Memoir of Hennessey 357

CHAPTER XXXIX. — Departure from Connaught 366

CHAPTER XL. — The West, Past and Present 374

CHAPTER XH. — Horses and Hounds 388

INTRODUCTION

BY

THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DUNRAVEN.

To properly appreciate the following pages the reader
should first adjust his critical faculties to the date in
which the letters were written — unless, indeed, he
has actually cultivated a taste for the artificial periods,
the practical joking, the elaborate puns, the sentimen-
talities and the somewhat pompous humour of the
period. The art of description was not one in which
the amateur writers of the early nineteenth century
excelled. And it is not for its style that this book
is valuable to us now. It is for the picture it presents
of life and social conditions painted, presumably, by
an Anglicised Irishman during a sporting visit to a
remote part of Connaught in the first quarter of the
nineteenth century.

Everything was new to the supposed writer ; most
of what he had to tell, I imagine, was new also to the
average reader of the time. For this book was almost
a pioneer in its day. It was the first of a series begin-
ning with Charles Lever and continuing to our own time
in which the lives and manners of the Irish people,
the sport and scenery of the country, are set forth in
detail for the information and entertainment of British
and Anglo-Irish readers. 1 will not go so far as to say

VI INTRODUCTION.

that but for this book the vivacious works of Miss
Somerville and " Martin Ross " — to say nothing of
Miss Jane Barlow and Cannon Hannay — might never
have been written. But he is to a certain extent, their
forerunner ; and, to a still greater degree, his book is
the forerunner of such stories as " Handy Andy,"
" Harry Lorrequer," and " Castle Rackrent." And,
indeed, as pointed out in the preface, Lever drew from
personal intercourse with him, as well as from a full
acquaintance with his Irish writings, the desire to follow
him in the same field of fiction.

One great advantage of the book is that it is written
from the outside point of view — the standpoint of an
intelligent Anglo-Irishman educated at Trinity College,
Dublin, and that the author visited Connaught much
as an explorer might visit a newly-discovered savage
island. We hear too much, perhaps, of the value of
observations written from the inside. These are,
strictly speaking, not observations at all, but expo-
sitions ; and although they have their place in pro-
viding the material from which full knowledge of a
subject must be derived, it is the outsider who really
sees a thing as a whole, in its truest proportions and
in reasonable relationship to the rest of the world.

It is obvious that our author has but a very external
knowledge of the Connemara people of his day. He
did not know their thoughts, and might, perhaps, have
been surprised if he could have learned their view of
him. To him they were just the natives of the place.

INTRODUCTION VII

and their ways and habits were of small importance
compared with those of salmon, grouse, snipe, and the
red deej. But he tells us what he saw, and a good deal
of what he heard ; his narrative, so far as is possible
for a writer of the period, is a straightforward one, and
has the intrinsic value of every document which sets
forth a piece of life that a man has actually experienced.

The author describes a community in course of trans-
ition. The days of the hard riding, hard drinking,
duelling, lavishly hospitable landed gentry, ruling over
contented tenants and a whole host of dependents
and hangers-on, in a country where the King's writ
did not run, had not passed away. The clan system
still existed, though in a degenerate form. The land-
lord, " the master," was chief, and held tenaciously
to illegal rights frankly recognised by the clan. When,
for instance, a portmanteau, the property of a visitor
to the Lodge, was abstracted en route, there was no
question of appealing to the law and of setting the
police in motion. An outrage to the authority of the
chief had been committed and the clan took it up. An
armed emissary was dispatched, and presently returned
with the portmanteau and an apology.

Fosterage was still deemed a tie as strong or stronger
than one of blood. Hennessey " my foster brother,"
was loved and protected. One abduction and three
homicides were chargeable against him " He had been
unfortunate," poor man. In fact the law — the written
law and the legal executive were ignored or derided.

viii INTRODUCTION.

Custom, the unwritten law and the legal executive
were ignored or derided. Custom, the unwritten law
of the master sanctioned by illegal physical force,
prevailed. Private quarrels were speedily settled by
a duel. Family feuds and clan feuds were of frequent
occurrence resulting in faction fights, many broken heads
and some loss of life. As though such causes of quarrel
did not afford sufficient opportunities for a fight, mullet
fishing was, for some inscrutable reason, deemed a
fitting occasion for a small battle between the retainers
of neighbouring landlords. The people believed that
they had a prescriptive right to rob mullet nets, and,
in consequence, would never be at the trouble of setting
them unless they had a sufficiently strong party to
protect the fish when taken. Of course the dependents
of one landlord would not rob his nets, but they would
rob his neighbours ; the neighbouring tribe would
retaliate ; and on the occasion of a great catch there
were plenty of broken heads, and sometimes not a few
gunshot wounds. One of these adventures involved
the summonsing of our author's host, " and it cost me
a cool hundred before I got clear of the Honourable
Justices."

What will at once strike the reader is the extraordinary
change that has taken place in Ireland. When these
letters were penned, the only social system in Connaught
worth the name was the clan system ; and in a day of
peasant proprietors, co-operative agriculture, Land
Commissions, Congested District Boards and all the

INTRODUCTION. IX

other agencies by which the complicated social machinery
of Ireland is at present conducted, it is interesting
to look back to this time, such a little while ago, when the
only people of any importance were the landlord, the
priest, and (in a lesser degree) the excise officer. The
tribal picture presented in the book is definite and
complete. Within and around the residence of the
landlord was collected a host of dependents and hangers-
on, some with duties and some with none, but all
apparently with privileges ; all dependent directly
on the landlord for shelter, food and drink, game, the
produce of lakes, rivers and the sea, and illicitly dis-
tilled whiskey.

It must have been a happy life for them. They lived,
as their landlords lived, in a world of perpetual sport ;
when there had been a great kill there was a great feast,
and when there was a great feast there was a great
carouse. The successful running of a smuggled
cargo of French brandy was the occasion of jubilation
throughout the entire countryside, in which the magis-
trate landlord took part. And on the days when the
weather was too severe for outdoor sport the turf was
piled high on the hearth, fishing-rods and guns were
brought out and cleaned, and the whole energies of the
tribe given up to the overhaul of sporting apparatus
of every kind.

A social condition existed which certainly would not
appeal to the moralist or economist of the present day,
but on the whole the people were happy and contented

INTRODUCTION.

in it. The landed interest — owners and tenants — were
well-to-do, and there was rough plenty for the paid and
unpaid retinue of the landlord in those days before the
" piping times of peace " had brought down prices by
the run, and the great famine and its consequences
had ruined the gentry and broken the hearts of the
people.

For those who were not afraid of roughing it in a
comfortable way, it was a sportsman's paradise. It
is true that the actual appetite for killing seems to have
been indulged in, rather childishly. " It was a bright
and cheerful day ; the sun sparkled on the blue water,
which, unruffled by the gentle breeze, rose and fell
in the long and gentle undulations which roll in from
the westward when the Atlantic is at rest. While pulling
to the cove, we amused ourselves by shooting puffins
as they passed us, or trying our rifles at a distant seal,
while my kinsman's anecdotes whiled away the tedium
of the voyage." Puffin shooting, and " trying rifles
at a distant seal " would not be regarded to-day as
very worthy occupations for a true sportsman, especially
in a country which abounded with such variety
of legitimate game. On the very day, for example,
on which this incident is described, a party enjoyed
the two very different sports of coursing and mullet
fishing, and, after a magnificent run with Irish and
English greyhounds, netted upwards of a hundred
mullet weighing from four to ten pounds each.

Abundance of interesting lore is to be found in these

INTRODUCTION. xi

pages for the sportsman of any country ; particularly
for him who still frequents the mountains and streams of
Connemara. The wild red deer of Ireland are all gone
now ; they were scarce in those days, but afforded
splendid sport. The account of the pike on Lough
Corrib is extremely interesting, as also are the notes
on the trout found in the high mountain loughs. " Two
loughs, situated in the same valley, and divided only
by a strip of moorland not above two yards across,
united by the same rivulet, and in depth and soil on
bottom apparently similar, were found to produce
fish as utterly different from each other as it is possible
for fish of the same species to be ; in the centre lake the
trout were ill-shapen and dark-coloured, with large
heads, lean bodies, and little fight in them. In the
adjacent lough they were golden and pellucid in colour
with bright vermillion spots, compact in shape, and
vigorous fighters ; and as much superior at table as they
were in the water." Very interesting, too, is the account
of a lake a hundred feet higher in the mountains pro-
ducing trout remarkable both for their size and for
their peculiarity in never rising at a fly or taking bait ;
and which were yet frequently observed by the herdsmen
rising over the water, or, as they said, " tumbling about
like dogs." The local assumption was that there was
a sea-horse or other devil in the lake which prevented
the fish from rising to the fly.

Charming, indeed, is the author's picture of the
sporting lodge in the wilds of Erris, the home of his

XII INTRODUCTION.

Irish kinsman, which was the head-quarters whence the
sporting expeditions described in his narrative were
made ; and pleasant, indeed, to his city eyes, must
have been the sight of the narrow creek, with the snug
thatched dwelling at the head of it where, although
the Atlantic spray sometimes drifted against the
windows, a great cliff broke the force of the sea winds,
and a high hill on the land side sheltered it from the
north. In the chilly evenings a turf fire burned in the
parlour hearth ; and there, by the light of dried bog-
deal added to the embers instead of candles, the sports-
man and his guests sat over excellent claret that had
never paid the revenue a farthing, or brewed toddy from
the more potent spirit which was at once the produce
and scourge of the district. The long roar of the
Atlantic breakers was their lullaby at night ; the cries
of wild birds and the cheerful hum of the farmyard
awoke them in the morning. From the windows they
could see the salmon flinging themselves over the
smooth tide as they hurried to the mouth of their native
river, or trace the outline of the Mayo hills where the
original red deer of Ireland were still existing. No
wonder the supposed stranger was delighted with the
place, and in the course of a day or two, had thoroughly
domesticated himself in it ; no wonder, after expedi-
tions to the mountain hut where they encamped for a
week or two, when in quest of the remoter game, or
after an expedition to Achil after grouse or sea-fowl
or rabbits, or snipe, or cock, he returned to it, as to a

INTRODUCTION. Xlll

home. It was a strenuous life, and a very delightful
one ; they were out all day on the mountains or along
the shore ; came back at nightfall with full bags with
which to replenish their wild larder ; and if they held
something like a carouse after dinner, the long day's
exercise in the wonderful air seems to have rendered
both mind and body immune from any ill-effects. Be
it noted in passing that there was no Eve in this paradise.

The human aspect of things is always interesting
when politics and economics leave us cold ; and it is
the scenery, the sport, the legendary lore, the lives and
habits of the people that chiefly engage our author.
Politics and economics he leaves on one side for the very
good reason that they were non-existent in the part
of Connaught which he visited ; and people who enjoy
playing the game of " Then and Now," of comparing
things as they were with things as they are, will find
this book a document of great value, enabling them to
estimate to what extent a century's march of civiliza-
tion has affected the remoter west of Ireland.

The book teems with incidents of sport, shooting,
hunting, coursing, fishing on sea and river, and with
many pertinent remarks on the fauna and scenery of
the country. How far these descriptions are applic-
able to-day is for those who visit the wild west to say.
Socially and economically the Connemara of to-day
would be unrecognisable to one who visited it nearly
a century ago. Good roads now traverse the then
unmapped and trackless wilderness, and good hotels

XIV INTRODUCTION.

minister to the wants of the modern traveller. The
ragged and somewhat irresponsible bands of personal
retainers have dwindled down to harmless necessary
gillies and guides. Produce, such as it is, can find a
market, and barley and oats not needed for home con-
sumption are no longer destined to the illicit still. The
wild red deer is long ago extinct, and the most industrious
trapper would fail to make a living now-a-days out
of killing otters ; but seals are numerous, salmon leap
their way upwards from the sea, and the eagle may
reward the vigilance of the tourist, The same great
Atlantic billows thunder against the same stupendous
cliffs. Mountain, lake and river are unchanged.

The author is fond of introducing legends and anec-
dotes. Among the latter, the story of " The Man Who
Would Not Do For Galway " is a fine example of the
kind of Irish anecdote which remained very popular
for many a year afterwards ; and the account of Mr.
Dawkins, of Toole Castle, and how he was eaten up
by the sporting friends of his wife, and finally ruined
in mind and estate, is a convincing instance of that
riotous extravagance both of narrative and of life in
which writers upon Ireland of the period delighted.
Much more real and quite beautiful in its way is the
account of the death of Antony, the otter-killer. In
fact, this old peasant, so full of unselfish affection, so
wise in the lore of the mountains, the rivers and the
lakes, and so skilful in his craft, is the one real portrait
that stands out in the book. His simple devotion to

INTRODUCTION. XV

his master whose education in matters of sport had been
in his hands from childhood, who had served three
generations of the family and knew no world beyond it,
is well indicated ; and in this respect, at any rate, one
is happy to think that times have not altogether changed
in Ireland, and that faithful and affectionate servants
like Antony may still be found, honourably serving
a master who loves and honours them for their service.
His last words were beautifully characteristic of personal
devotion and reverence for the name. " Master Julius,
will ye listen to a dying man, he that carried ye in his
arms, and loved ye better than all the world besides.
Marry, Julius avourneen — the ould name that since the
days of Shamus a Croaghagh held land and honour —
surely ye won't let it pass ! You will mind the dog
for my sake, Master Julius, and ye '11 let trap and fishing-
rod hang up in the hall, to put ye in mind of old Antony."
No wonder his master was heavily afflicted at the loss
of his old friend and monitor ; no wonder he felt that,
although the old man had died surrounded by those
who loved him, full of years, and ripe for his rest, " He
could have spared a better man."

DUNRAVEN.

ORIGINAL PREFACE.

SOME explanation may be necessary for obtruding
upon the public the private details of a sportsman's
life, and particularly when the scene of his exploits
is laid within " the four seas of Britain." In the custo-
mary course of field adventure, few besides the indi-
vidual concerned are much interested in the successes
and disappointments he experiences ; and rural sports
are, in all their general incidents, so essentially alike
as to render their minute description almost invariably
a dull and unprofitable record.

Circumstances, however, may occasionally create an
interest which in ordinary cases would be wanting.
From local connexions, a field almost untrodden by any
but himself was opened to the writer of these sketches.
He was thrown into an unfrequented district, with a
primitive people to consort with. With some advan-
tages to profit from the accident, a remote and semi-
civilized region was offered to his observation ; and
although within a limited distance of his Majesty's
mail-coach, a country was thus disclosed, as little known
to the multitude as the interior of Australasia ; and
where, excepting some adventurous grouse-shooter,
none had viewed its highlands or mingled with its
inhabitants.

That the scenic and personal sketches are faithful,
the reader is assured ; some were written on the spot,
and others traced from vivid recollection. Those with
whom the author shot these wild moors, or fished these
waters, will best estimate the fidelity of the descriptions ;

xviiii PREFACE.

and one valued friend, though now beneath another
sun, will probably recall the days he spent by " fell
and flood," and bring to memory those light and joyous
hours when he caroused in a mountain bivouac and
rested in a moorland hut.

With regard to the tales and legends narrated in the
succeeding pages, the former were told just as they are
introduced. " The Blind Seal " is known to be sub-
stantially true — I have heard it from many, and never
knew its veracity impugned. My lamented friend
was himself the principal actor in " the Night Attack " ;
and he, poor fellow, was exactly the man who, in an
affray or a carouse, might be depended on.

Respecting the legendary stories, I have no pledge
to offer for their authenticity — Old Antony believed
them to the letter — I have given them nearly in his
own words, and I may say, with Sir Walter Scott,

" I cannot tell how the truth may be,
I say the tale as 'twas told to me."

" The Legend of Knock-a-thample " remains as the
Otter-killer related it ; but with " Rose Roche " I
confess to have taken liberties, in suppressing a portion
of her flirtation with the " black-eyed page," which
although, upon the lady's part, I feel convinced, was
perfectly platonic, yet by uncharitable constructions
might be tortured into something like indiscretion.

If 1 have undervalued those rural recreations in which
many a worthy citizen sometimes dissipates, I hope my
contempt for his avocations will be ascribed to the true
cause, namely, that local advantages have spoiled my
taste and rendered me fastidious. He who can shoot
grouse upon the moor will spend little time in killing
pigeons from the trap ; the angler who in a morning

PREFACE. xix

hooks some half-score salmon would reckon it but
sorry amusement to dabble in a pond. To a Galway
rider, the Epping hunt would be a bore, and he would
probably treat it with the same contumely that one of
this redoubted body did hare-hunting, by riding to the
hounds in morocco slippers, and carrying an open
umbrella to protect him from the sun.

As I have casually named " an honoured name," I
lament that it was not his fortune to have visited those
interesting scenes, where I have been so long a useless
wanderer. The wild features and wilder associations
of that romantic and untouched country would have
offered him a fresh field whereon to exercise his magic
pencil — and many a tale and legend still orally handed
down, but which, in a few years, must of necessity be
forgotten, would have gained immortality from the
touch of " the mighty master." But alas ! the creations
of his splendid imagination will no more delight an
enchanted world. The wand is broken, the spell is
over, the lamp of life is nearly exhausted — and even
now Scotland may be mourning for the mightiest of
her gifted sons.

As a votive offering, this Volume is inscribed to
that matchless genius, by an humble but enthusiastic
admirer of SIR WALTER SCOTT.

SYDENHAM,

SEPTEMBER 12, 1832.

Wild Sports of the West.

CHAPTER I.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

London, July ist, 1829.

NOTWITHSTANDING its dust and desertion, I am still
lurking in the metropolis. The heat has become in-
tolerable— yesterday I imagined myself in Calcutta —
for never but in the land of curries and red pepper did
I experience anything so oppressive.

I breakfasted this morning at the Club-house. My
air and attitude, as I caught a glimpse of them in a
concave mirror, looked exquisitely disconsolate. Never
was mortal more ennuye than I. Town has become
a desert — the world has abandoned it by general con-
sent— the streets feel as if they had been recently fanned
by a sirocco ; and of divers unhappy beings whom I
encountered in my walk from Grafton Street to St.
James's, none seemed at ease but a bilious gentleman
from Bombay and the French fellow who exhibits in
the oven. The thermometer, in a shaded corner of
the room, is stationary at 82 deg. To remain longer
here would be suicidal ; but, where to go — whither to
fly — alas ! I know not.

2 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST;

Would that you were near me, then should I be
certain of sympathy and counsel — for at this moment
there is not a more persecuted gentleman in the King's
dominions. But I will make a clean breast — and to
render my confessions explanatory, I must favour you
with some particulars of my private history.

As autobiographers enjoy a prescriptive privilege of
exhibiting their ancestors, I shall take the liberty of
introducing my papa. In his twenty-second year, Mr.
Hector O'Brien was a bold Lieutenant of Grenadiers
in his Majesty's 5oth Foot, then distinguished by the
nattering title of " The Dirty Half Hundred."* My
father was as strapping a fellow as ever wore a wing,
kept a showy horse, and was decidedly the best dancer
in the regiment. Being quartered in the vicinity of
Bath, he attended the assemblies, and " in double
quick " managed to effect a conquest. The lady had
a fortune, and my father required one. Unluckily,
she had a brother's consent to gain ; and, on being
consulted, he was unmoved by importunity, and deaf
to " every plea of love." The case was hopeless. Mr.
Wamsley disliked Ireland, detested military men, and
above all things abominated " The Dirty Half Hun-
dred."

To account for the gentleman's antipathy to this
celebrated corps, it will be necessary to remark that
the regiment was then afflicted with a mad Major.
His (the Major's) delight lay in drinking port wine
and slaying pheasants. Mr. Wamsley, on the contrary,
preferred water and preserved game. The Major
beat up preserves without remorse, and deforced keepers,
who, though good men and true, prudently declined

* From their black facings, the soth received this sobriquet.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 3

joining issue with mad majors and double-barrelled
guns. Now, Mr. Wamsley, resisting an invasion of his
rights, applied to the Justice for redress, whereas Major
O'Farrell considered that a reference to the pistol would
be much more gentlemanly— a deadly feud was the
consequence, and Mr. Wamsley was closely blockaded
within his park walls by the military delinquent.
Fortunately for all concerned, the regiment got the
route ; Mr. Wamsley recovered his liberty, and his
detestation of the gallant 5Oth only ended with his
life.

But his sister held a very different opinion respecting
the merits of the brave " Half Hundred." She was
devoted to the Lieutenant of Grenadiers, and the route
hurried matters to a crisis. The result may be antici-
pated. Despising park walls and surly keepers, Mr.
O'Brien overcame every difficulty, and with the assist-
ance of a garden ladder, the mad Major and his double-
barrelled gun, he carried off the lady, and at Gretna
they became " one flesh."

Mr. Wamsley was irritated beyond the possibility
of being appeased. Ten thousand pounds, which his
wife possessed without the control of her brother,
enabled my father to leave the army, and settle on his
hereditary estate in Roscommon ; and there he hunted,
shot, fished, and farmed, and lived just as Irish gentlemen
lived some thirty years ago.

I was the only issue of the marriage. All commu-
nication had ceased between my parents and Mr.
Wamsley, and eighteen years passed away, and no
appearance of abated displeasure had ever been evinced
by this implacable relative. I left a public school for
the Dublin University, was destined for the Church,

4 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

and had nearly completed my college course, when an
unforeseen event changed my prospects and profes-
sion. It was the death of both my parents within the
brief space of a month.

My father's affairs were in great disorder — his estate
was heavily embarrassed, and if his debts were paid it
was ascertained that I should be left nearly destitute.
The intelligence reached Mr. Wamsley, and, to the
astonishment of all acquainted with his unrelenting
animosity to my deceased parents, a letter was received
from him, inviting me to visit him at his magnificent
place, Lai worth Castle.

The invitation was of course accepted. I arrived,
and found him a stern, disagreeable old man. My
first appearance was against me — for the resemblance
I bore to my father was most striking, and it seemed
to recall my uncle's long-cherished prejudices. He
abruptly asked me on the succeeding morning, " What
course of life I had selected ? " I replied, " That the
army appeared best adapted to my taste and broken
fortunes." His only observation was, " Be it so " ;
and here this laconic conversation ended.

That evening, Mr. Wamsley wrote to his neighbour,
Lord Ulverston. The peer was his debtor to a large
amount, and generally trafficked with him for his borough

of bury. My uncle's request was promptly

attended to. Lord Ulverston stood well at the Horse
Guards, and in a few weeks, to my unfeigned
satisfaction and surprise, I was gazetted to a
Cornetcy in the Blues.

But my joy at this event was but of short duration.
The miserly disposition of my uncle took alarm at the
large outlay attendant on entering an expensive corps

AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 5

Each hundred was doled out with painful reluctance,
and the knowledge that a certain annual allowance would
be requisite for my support made him still more
wretched. I joined the regiment ; my subsidies —
generally drafts for a paltry fifty — were " few and
far between." To hold a certain place in society, with
an income incompetent to its expenses, is a state of
inexpressible misery. Gradually I became embarrassed,
and in two years found it necessary to exchange from
the Blues to a Light Cavalry regiment, then stationed in
the East Indies. My uncle made no objection ; he was
tired of what he termed supplying my boundless
extravagance, bade me a cold farewell, and his parting
words, as I stepped into the carriage, were a request
that I would " write but seldom, as postage from the
East, his lawyer told him, was enormous."

I obeyed him to the letter ; I only wrote once, and
that was conveying an entreaty that he would purchase a
majority likely to become vacant ; I got a coarse refusal,
and thus our correspondence terminated. For four
years I never heard from him, and had nearly forgotten
that I had left a relation behind me.

I was surprised, however, at this distant period with
a letter, worded in his stiff and peculiar style. It
briefly stated that his health was indifferent, and that
he would recommend me to return to Europe with as
little delay as possible.

This recommendation was anything but gratifying.
I liked India well enough — the climate agreed with
me — my health was unimpaired — the mess was good —
the regiment gentlemanly — and, better still, I could
live most comfortably upon my pay. I felt, however,
that my uncle's invitation should not be neglected ;

6 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

applied for leave ; succeeded, and made immediate
preparations for a return to Europe. My brother
officers congratulated me on my good fortune in so
speedily revisiting my native country ; but to me it
was a subject of regret. I was leaving pleasant quarters,
cheerful society, and comparative independence, to
become a slave to the caprice and ill-humour of a morose
and splenetic invalid.

It was late in December when I landed at Portsmouth.
The voyage had been remarkably quick, and without
delay I started for my uncle's residence, and in the
gloom of a wet wintry evening re-entered the gates of
Lalworth Park. I looked down the long vista of splendid
elms, but in the twilight the house was not visible ; not
a candle glanced from a window, and no indication of
its being inhabited appeared about this melancholy
mansion. The postboy stopped — I alighted, ran up
the steps and rang gently — no one answered — I rang
again — louder yet — and a step came hastily over the
oaken floor. The old porter at last approached
cautiously affixed the chain, opened a few inches of the
door, and raised his candle suspiciously to examine the
late visitor. Instantly recollecting me, he uttered a
suppressive exclamation of astonishment, removed the
fastenings, and muttered, " Thank God, it is himself ! "
and, as he admitted me, whispered that my uncle was
not expected to survive till midnight.

In silence I was conducted to a back drawing-room,
where, on a large, old-fashioned sofa, the dying man was
laid. The porter advanced before, and in a low voice
notified my arrival. The news appeared to gratify
the invalid ; he turned his dim eyes to the spot where
I stood waiting for permission to advance. " Are you

AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 7

there, Frank ! " he said in a feeble voice — " Ha, ha,
ha ! it was touch and go with you ! " and he uttered a
weak and sarcastic laugh. " Call Doctor Dodwell
and the lawyer — desire them to bring the other will —
and tell Moore and Hubert to attend to witness it.'
While he gave these orders I gazed on the wasted features
of the dying miser, and there was a strange expression of
stern satisfaction visible on his countenance, as his
cold glance rested fixedly on me. Immediately the
doctor, solicitor, and witnesses entered the room —
" Raise me up," he said to the ancient domestic, his
personal attendant. It was done, and he motioned
to the solicitor to unfold the parchment. Carefully he
passed his eye over the surface to assure himself that the
document was the one he required, and having ascertained
the fact, he pointed to a pen. With difficulty he placed
it in his trembling fingers, and, with a painful exertion,
affixed his signature to the deed — then looking at the
witnesses as they annexed their names — " This is my
last will and testament," he said, with a feeble emphasis,
" and thus do I revoke all others ! " — then turning to
me, while a ghastly smile overspread his face, " Half
an hour later would have served hospitals and alms-
houses, Francis " he leaned himself back and expired
without a struggle.

For a few moments we were not aware that he was
dead ; the strength with which his last remark was
uttered led us at first to believe that he had reclined
in consequence of the exertion. In a few minutes the
physician took his hand and sought for a pulse, but in
vain ; he raised the eyelid and applied a candle to the
fixed and deadly stare, and then announced that the
patient had departed.

8 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

A scene, a disgusting scene, ensued ; the attorney,
when certified of his client's death, seized my hand and
coarsely congratulated me on my good fortune. The
doctor abandoned the corpse to join the solicitor in his
compliments — and between them the truth transpired.
I had, indeed, been luckily expeditious in my journey,
and the old man's phrase of touch and go was fully
explained. The preceding day he had signed a testa-
ment conveying his entire property to a variety of
charitable institutions ; and the will which had been
originally made in my favour, and been kept over by
this singular relative, would have remained imperfect,
had I not so providentially arrived the evening of his
death.

We left the room while the body was being laid out
preparatory to interment. What a turn one hour had
given to my fortunes ! I entered Lalworth Park at four
o'clock, a poor, miserable dependant ; at five, I was
master of all around me, possessed of twelve thousand
pounds a year, owner of a borough, with fifty thousand
in the funds and twenty at my banker's. Such a mingled
yarn is the web of human life.

The obsequies of my uncle were duly performed,
and for many days I was engaged in examining papers,
and taking possession of the plate and valuables of
Lalworth Park. The house was sadly out of repair,
and the grounds and gardens utterly neglected. The
old man had limited the fuel for the mansion to such
fallen wood as could be collected throughout the domain ;
and the few domestics he employed were scarcely
sufficient to ventilate, without attempting to keep in
order, the numerous and once splendid apartments.
For some time I was busily occupied ; I hired addi-

AUTOBIOGRAPHY 9

tional servants, engaged an architect, fiated my agent's
accounts, and started then for London so soon as a decent
respect towards the deceased would permit my appearing
in the metropolis. Of the rest, my dear Baronet, you
know sufficient particulars ; a presentable man, olim
in the Blues, and recently succeeding to a large and
unencumbered property, would soon " find room in
any place." I was speedily admitted to those chosen
circles which are impassable to those who want birth,

impudence, or money. I ran the full round of dissi

but, on this head, you, my constant companion, require
but little information.

In human life, George, every thing has its limits.
I am probably too rich to be permanently happy. I
tired of Brookes 's and Willis's and Crockford's ; I had
little taste for the play, and betted moderately, and with
even success : if I lost I was not depressed ; if I won
I was not exhilarated. The season was drawing to its
close, and I began to discover that I was not fated to
escape from sublunary annoyances. I was bored by
the dull dinners of stupid placemen, who calculated
on my borough ; I was persecuted by ancient gentle-
women who wished to rid themselves of daughters that
years ago were passees ; a young and titled widow
almost wooed me to desperation ; and the Dowager of

shocked me by an assurance that Lord Leatherby

expected, from my marked attention at the Horticultural
fete, that I would forthwith propose for that sandy-
haired fright, his daughter. God help me ! little did
I suppose that an act of common humanity, in sheltering
her red ringlets with a broken umbrella, would have been
thus tortured by that leaden-headed Lord, her sire !

I forgot in its proper place to notify an important

IO WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

occurrence ; it was the death of Mr. James Jones.
This personage was owner of a property in Surinam,
and one of the representatives for the borough of

bury. A year before his death my late uncle had

pocketed three thousand pounds, and returned as
inoffensive a gentleman as ever snored upon the benches
of St. Stephen's. I took his place, next the oaths,
and had sufficient grace to sit quiet and listen to other
declaimers, who possessed more talent or more impudence
than myself. For some time I was rather undecided in
my politics ; but the Ministerial were the quieter
benches — there I established myself, and for half a
session none slept through a debate with a quieter
conscience — but, curse upon blighted beauty, I was not
permitted to remain in happy and unambitious celibacy.
From my first appearance I had been exposed to
distant attacks, but as the weather warmed and the
town thinned, my persecutors became more daring
in their approaches. Did I venture to a Refugee
concert, there I was waylaid by the widow. Did I
endeavour to steal a ride in Rotten Row, I was directly
hunted off by the dame rouge and that infernal Peer,
her father ; and all that was penniless or passe marked
me as an object of unrelenting importunity. Eventu-
ally, I was driven from every place approachable by
woman, and, having no other refuge, turned to the turf,
and engaged myself deeply in the Derby.

That event is over, and I shall write the man " mine
enemy " who ever recalls it to my recollection — but
as this is a confession to thee, George, I must make a
clean breast. I was as well acquainted with the mysteries
of a betting-book as I was with the financial department
of Timbuctoo ; when luckily " a d d good-natured

AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 1 1

friend " came to my aid, and, with his experience, why
should I not get on cleverly ? A horse was going for
nothing, my friend was on the alert, made the discovery,
and I bought him for five hundred. He was a dead
bargain, quite a dark one, and, in proof of the same, the
odds against him were thirty-five to one ; but, as I was
informed, there lay the beauty of the thing.

As the races drew near, I discovered that my book was
what the legs call a queer concern. I had picked up the
halt and blind as first favourites and betted accordingly.
My dark one proved a roarer, and my faithful friend
recommended me to hedge immediately, and I did so,
as the result will tell.

Off went the horses ; Phenomenon, my courser, in
the chance medley got a splendid start, but from his
pace the spectators alleged that he was hamstrung.
In three hundred yards he was passed by the slowest
of the bad ones, and before the leading horses reached
the distance, everything I was interested in was beaten
fairly off. All I had left for consolation under this
accumulation of disappointment was the smart hedge
that I had so prudently effected before starting.

The settling-day came ; I was at Tattersall's and so
were my winners to a man ; I disbursed five thousand
to divers legs with and without titles, and furthermore
disposed of the celebrated horse Phenomenon for fifty
pounds. But where was the worthy gentleman with
whom I had hedged half my losses ? Till four o'clock
I waited in painful expectation, and at that hour, he being
still invisible, I ventured to hazard an enquiry, and was
favoured with the comfortable tidings that my absent
friend was a broken wine merchant, and that he had
levanted the evening of the race.

12 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

This wind-up of the season, united to sultry weather
and a tender persecution, determined me to fly " east,
west, or north, I care not whither." This, however,
was more easily decided on than effected, for to retreat
is the difficulty, as I find myself hemmed in by my
enemies on every side. The widow cuts me off from
Cheltenham ; the Honourable Juliana Thistleton would

haunt me in Hastings ; the Dowager of and her

protegee abide in the pleasant town of Brighton ; and my
Lord Leatherby has taken out a sort of roving commis-
sion, to infest every retirement of fashionable repute ;
and from his cunning enquiries as to the particular point,
seaside or suburban, to which I purpose to remove,
I perceive I am as deliberately doomed to matrimony
by this relentless nobleman as ever a country bonnet-
maker was devoted to destruction by an immoral captain
of horse.

And shall I fall without a struggle to avert my fate ?
forbid it, honour ! Yes, my determination is fixed —
I will counteract this conspiracy against my freedom,
and call my Connaught cousin " to the rescue." He
is a determined duellist, and has been regularly jilted
— consequently he abominates the sex (I hope) and will
protect me from the widow ; while his truculent
propensities for the pistol will keep the Peer at a distance.

CONN AUGHT. 13

CHAPTER II.

I HAVE said that in this my hour of need I would seek
succour from my Irish kinsman. I wrote to him
accordingly, implored him to abandon his mountain
den, and join me at Lai worth Park. To my invitation
I received a decisive and, I would almost say, insulting
refusal. " He hated puppies, avoided flirts, was neither
a fool or a fortune, and therefore had no business with
such society as I should expose him to." The man
appears to be a misanthrope ; I gave him in return a
tart rejoinder, and he seems disinclined to remain my
debtor. Hear what he says :

" Francis, I pity thee ! Like the Moor, your 'occupa-
tion's gone,' and your letter seals your condemnation.

" You talk of exercise : pshaw ! what is it ? You
knock some party-coloured balls over the smooth surface
of a green table ; you hazard suffocation for an hour in
Rotten Row, and should you survive the dust, endure
eternal dread of empalement by a carriage-pole ; you
shoot a score of rascally pigeons within the enclosures
of Batters ea, or make a grand excursion to slaughter
pheasants in a preserve ; last and proudest feat comes
the battu, when, with noble and honourable confederates,
you exterminate a multitude of semi-civilized fowls,
manfully overcoming the fatigue of traversing an
ornamented park, and crossing a few acres of turnips.
And is this ignoble course befitting one of ' lith and limb '
like thine ? You, the best of your day in Trinity

14 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

— you, whose prowess is still recorded in the annals
of the watchhouse, and whose hurling is yet chronicled
in the Park ; you, whom no six-feet wall could turn,
whom no mountain-herd could tire in the dog-days —
you, who could swim with Byron, and walk with Barclay
— what are you become ? an elegant and fashionable
idler — lolling life away, the morning in a club-house
window, the evening in the Park, and the night gallopading
some scion of nobility, who has discovered that you
possess twelve thousand pounds a year, and that her
own funds are insufficient to satisfy the corset-maker
in Regent Street.

" Would that I could reform your taste and habits !
Could I but induce you to pass one autumn here, your
conversion would be a certainty. Come to me, Frank ;
ay, come to the wilds of Connaught ; avoid an atmos-
phere surcharged with villainous impurities, and brace
your relaxed nerves in the waves of the Atlantic ; seek
life and energy in the mountain-breeze ; abandon the
gymnasium to scriveners and shopmen, and leave
Crockford's to ruined dupes and titled swindlers.

" You have hitherto been a silent member of the
Honourable Commons, and St. Stephen's has never
heard from you ' the popular harangue, the tart reply.'
Hast thou any aspirations after fame ? any * longing
after immortality ? ' Listen ; the means are simple.
Indict the Red-house as a nuisance, and propose a bill,
making the being aiding or accessory to a battu, death
wuhout benefit of clergy. Thy name will live when
Joe Hume, that ready-reckoner, shall be forgotten ;
and Dick Martin's senatorial renown will fade before
the perennial glory of the present member for bury ! "

Need I say how opportunely came this invitation ?

CONN AUGHT. IS

" I embraced his offer " ; and here I am fairly over the
border, and safely deposited in the kingdom of Con-
naught, without injury or interruption worth recording.

On the subject of my travels I intend to be laconic,
inasmuch as, with a temporary intervention of steam,
I have resided in the royal mail since I left the lamps
of London. I believe I am not exactly cut out for a
traveller ; I am incurious as to names of guards and
coachmen — never inquire after their wives, or take the
population of their families ; I generally sleep from the
start to the close of the stage. I did observe that the
colour of corn was nearly alike in both countries ; and
remarked, further, that English drivers seemed partial
to ale and overalls, and Irish ones preferred frieze coats
and naked whiskey.

And now you shall have the particulars of my escape ;
and, since the times of the Anabasis, or the more recent
exploits of Lavalette and Ikey Solomons, never was
retreat effected in more masterly style. Candour
obliges me to admit that mine was unaccompanied by
sound of trumpet, or other " pomp and" circumstance
of war " ; and rather resembled the hasty retirement
of a detected thief from a tabernacle than a bold opera-
tion in noonday, and in the face of the enemy. But
let that pass. I embarked a miscellaneous cargo of
guns, dogs, and fishing-tackle, under the surveillance
of a trusty servant, on board a Dublin steamer, and the
following evening started quietly for " the Head " ;
leaving directions with mine host in Grafton Street to
acquaint Lord Leatherby, and all suspicious-looking
inquirers, that I had departed for Constantinople, and
that any commands for me must be forwarded, under
cover, to the Sublime Porte.

1 6 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

I have no talent for statistics, but if my memory
serve, the interesting portion of the British Empire
from which I write is thus laid down by a modern
tourist : — " It lieth," says this intelligent traveller,
" under a dark gray cloud, which is evermore discharging
itself on the earth, but, like the widow's curse, is never
exhausted. It is bounded on the south and east by
Christendom and part of Tipperary, on the north by
Donegal, and on the west by the salt say. It abounds
in bogs, lakes, and other natural curiosities ; its soil
consists of equal quantities of earth and stone ; and its
surface is so admirably disencumbered of trees, shrubs,
hedges, and ditches, that an intelligent backwoodsman
from Louisiana was heard to declare with rapture that
it was the most perfectly-cultivated territory in Europe.

" Further," saith the tourist, " its gentry are a polished
and religious race, remarkable for their punctuality
in pecuniary transactions, and their freedom from a
litigious or quarrelsome disposition. The prevailing
mode of belief among the upper classes is anythingarianism
— that of the people, pure Popery."

This premonitory sketch will save you and me, George,
an infinity of trouble. You have here the country
graphically placed before you, as well as the distin-
guishing traits of character, for which the pleasant and
virtuous community who abide in this interesting
department of the Emerald Isle are so eminently dis-
tinguished.

The town of Ballinasloe is seated on a river, the name
of which I neglected to inquire. It is much frequented
by saints and cattle dealers, carries on a smart trade
in sheep and proselytes, and Bibles and bullocks are
" thick as leaves in Vallombrosa." The cabins, more-

CONN AUGHT. 1 7

over, are whitewashed ; pigs and popery are prohibited ;
and travellers wayfaring on the seventh day denounced,
and, under perilous amercements, enjoined to take
their ease in their respective inns.

While the horses were being brought out, I strolled
into the street, and, in a show-room of the Farming
Society, discovered a collection of biblicals in full
activity. From a short gentleman with soiled linen
and an impeded delivery, I learned the gratifying fact
that the spread of the Gospel was progressive in Cali-
fornia ; and, further, that a second-cousin of the King
of Siam had been baptized by a Moravian missionary.
This latter annunciation elicited a thunder of applause ;
and a young lady with a lisp pinched my elbow play-
fully, and requested me to propose that a piece of plate
be transmitted to the convertee. Now, pinching one's
elbow on a five minutes' acquaintance is alarming ;
I accordingly levanted, leaving Lispy to propose the plate
in person. I observed, in my retreat, a mob assembled
round the chapel, and, pushing through a crowd of
ragged urchins, established myself in the doorway.
Within there was a meeting of Radical Reformers, and
a tall man was pouring forth a philippic from the altar,
in which he made an awful example of the king's
English, and, in his syllabic arrangements, differed
totally from modern orthoepists. The gist of his
oration went to prove that Catholic Emancipation was
a humbug — concession a farce — and luck or grace would
never visit this unhappy island until Mr. Cornelius
Cassidy, of Killcooney House, was sent to represent
us in the Imperial Parliament.

1 8 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER III.

As my journey hither has been singularly propitious,
I shall only trouble the reader with the leading incidents.

My carriage broke down close to the inn of Glantane,
a solitary house, as the song goes, " delightfully placed
in a bog." As some delay must necessarily occur
before the repairs of the vehicle could be effected, after
the example of that accomplished cavalier, Major
Dalgetty, I determined to seize on this opportunity to
provision the garrison. To this prudent proceeding
on my part I found there was an insurmountable
obstacle ; the landlady assured me that the " materiel "
was in the house — there was bacon in the chimney,
and chickens in the yard, but there was no turf within,
till the boys — the devil bother them for staying ! — came
home from the blacksmith's funeral. Now, that
the hotel of Glantane should be deficient in this point
was marvellous. The surface of the circumjacent country,
in its proportion of tillage ground to turbary, bears an
acreable ratio of one to five hundred ; and yet, though
in the bosom of a bog, there could not be a sufficiency
of fire obtained to boil a potato-pot ! But human
ingenuity is surprising ; after a delay of three mortal
hours I re-ascended my chaise, and, without further
accident, was deposited in the town of Tuam.

On the merits of the Mitre Inn I shall be silent ; it
produced in good time a respectable quarter of cold
lamb, and a dish of exquisite potatoes. By the way,
we cannot cook this latter esculent in England. Had
my fare been worse, I would have submitted without

JOURNEY CONTINUED. 19

a murmur ; for the waiter assured my servant that I
had got the best bedroom in the house. Now, in the
course of my narrative I omitted to mention that on the
preceding night I had scarcely closed an eye. On
retiring to my dormitory, I remarked that the grate
was heaped with black turfs, apparently in the same
state in which they had been removed from their parent
moor ; but, anxious to court the drowsy god, I extin-
guished the candle, sprang into bed, and too late
discovered that I was overloaded with a mass of pon-
derous blanketing, while a faint spark twinkled in the
bottom of the grate, and, like the cry of wisdom in the
streets, was disregarded. I fell into a temporary dose,
and awoke an hour afterwards in a burning fever ; for
the grate, in place of cold turfs, exhibited a roaring fire.
In vain I opened door and window ; in vain I tumbled
blanket after blanket on the floor ; hours elapsed before
the fever-warmth of the apartment could be abated.
At last, exhausted by heat and exertion, I threw myself
upon the outside of the bed-coverings, and made myself
up for repose. Just then a brace of obstinate curs
determined to " bay the moon " : one established him-
self beneath my window, and the other took up a position
at the opposite side of the street, and for three long hours
they barked incessantly, relieving themselves occasion-
ally by indulging in a mournful and nerve-torturing howl.
Human forbearance could not support the martyrdom
I suffered : I was driven to desperation, and, collecting
every missile article in the chamber, with repeated
discharges, routed my persecutors, and once more
endeavoured to procure some rest.

I sank into a delicious slumber ; but suddenly the door
was flung open, and in rushed the waiter with porten-

20 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

tous speed. " The house must be on fire ! " I ejacu-
lated, as I somerseted into the centre of the floor. My fears
were fortunately groundless : Denis merely awoke
me to inquire if I would drive three miles out of town
to see two scoundrels fight, who had quarrelled the
preceding night about a game of cribbage. Judge then,
dear George, after all these visitations, whether the
annunciation of a quiet bed at Tuam was not to me
" a sound ecstatic ! "

I swallowed a pint of rascally sherry without a murmur,
fortified it with a dose of diluted alcohol, yawned my way
to my room, found clean linen — no fire, and, in five
minutes, was buried in sleep " fast as a watchman."

Presently arose a hum of many voices ; dreams and
phantasies disturbed my uneasy slumbers ; a noise like
distant music at times was faintly audible ; — at last a
crash of instruments awoke me, and the first quadrille
was in full execution within four feet of my distracted
head!

Heaven granted me patience, although I was on the
very brink of a country ball-room, and separated from
" the gay throng " only by the intervention of a slip
of deal board, while through the chinks you might have
passed the poker, or interchanged a parasol.

I raised myself up on my elbow, and what a group was
there ! A short man, in a claret-coloured coat, was paired
with a stout gentlewoman in bright scarlet : she must
have been descended from " the giant " ; I would as
soon grapple with her in a waltz as commit myself
to the embraces of a boa-constrictor. Vis-d-vts was a
police-officer, in state uniform, with a pale beauty in
cerulean blue ; and a personage of immense calf,
in black tights, confronted a skeleton in nankeen

JOURNEY CONTINUED. 21

unmentionables. The ladies were gloriously adorned with
silver ribbon, gilt wreaths, and every flower that blows,
from a pink to a peony ; the lords of the creation sported
stiffened cravats and a plurality of waistcoats ; and the
ball-room emitted " an ancient and fish-like smell "
— a miasm of musk, assisted by every abomination in
perfumery.

I was in an intermediate state between frenzy and fever,
and turned over in my mind the expediency of setting
fire to the bed-curtains, and sending myself, the quad-
rille, and the whole company to the skies, by igniting
ten pounds of Harvey's treble strong, which was stowed
away somewhere in my luggage. Did tired nature
quiesce for a moment, I was fearfully roused with a
tornado of torturous sounds. " Places, gentlemen ! "
— " Ladies' chain ! " — " Now, don't dance, Patsey ;
you know you're drunk ! " — " Arrah ! Charley, are you
stupid ? "— " Dos-d-dos, Miss Rourke ! "— " Up with
the Lancers ! " — " Aisy, Mr. Bodkin ! remember there
are ladies here ! " — " Waiter ! there's porter wanted
at the card-table ! " Somnus ! deity of my adoration !
never expose me to such misery as I endured in the
archiepiscopal town of Tuam !

Morning came, and the company retired to supper
below stairs. Anticipating the consequences, I fortified
my chamber-door with all the moveables I could collect.
It was a prudent precaution ; for, blessed be God !
a row ensued, that finished both delph and dancing.
I suffered nothing in person, but my less-fortunate valet
got a black eye from a Connemara gentleman, who,
unluckily for poor Travers, mistook him for the master
of the ceremonies, with whom he of Connemara was
at feud.

22 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER IV.

IT was noon when I arose, and the inmates of the Mitre
were still in exquisite confusion. Breakfast, after much
delay, was provided by the agency of the housemaid.
She apologised for the non-attendance of the waiter,
at present a patient in the Infirmary ; he having, in the
course of the entertainment, been ejected from the
window by a pleasant gentleman of Loughrea.

Anxious to be off as soon as possible, I ordered the
horses to ; but an unforeseen difficulty occurred in
removing my luggage to the carriage, as the door
was blocked up four deep by a gang of beggars.
With relation to the sizes of their respective places,
the lazaroni of Naples are far out-numbered by the
mendicants of Tuam. A trace broke at starting, and
thus enabled me to form a pretty correct idea of this
multitude. I reckoned to fifty-seven, and then became
confused. Although beset on every side, I was proof
against importunity, and refused parting with a sixpence.
Cursing was next tried ; and to the curious in that
accomplishment, I would suggest a week's residence
at the Mitre. One boy, a cripple in a dish, excelled
the united talent of the remainder. English and Irish
epithets were with him " common as household words " ;
he used both languages with surpassing fluency, and there
was an originality of conception in his style of execra-
tion which was what the Cockneys call most refreshing.
This precocious prodigy could not be much above
fifteen ; and, if he lives, will, in this peculiar depart-
ment of national eloquence, be without a parallel. I
have " erst while " passed through Billingsgate, when

THE MAD MAJOR. 23

the fair inhabitants betrayed symptoms of irritation ;
I have heard hackney-coachmen cursing at a crowded
opera over a fractured panel or broken pole ; I have
listened to a score of watermen squabbling for a fare at
Westminster Bridge ; I have been on board a transport
in a gale of wind, with an irreligious commander ; but
Tuam for ever ! there, cursing is perfection.

Mine is but a rambling narrative, and my details,
however interesting, lay no claim to the lucidus ordo ;
therefore, I reserve full liberty, from the very start, to
bolt into digressions when and as I please.

Of the many anecdotes that I have heard my father
narrate of his friend, the Mad Major, one was particu-
larly characteristic.

When the gallant 5oth were removed to Mullingar,
it was supposed that this town produced a greater number
of beggars than any in the king's dominions : a swarm
of paupers rendered the streets almost impassable,
and ingress or egress to or from a shop was occasionally
impracticable. Now, beggars were to the Mad Major
an abomination ; and for two days he ensconced him-
self in his lodgings, rather than encounter the mendicants
of Mullingar. Confinement will increase bile, and bile
may induce gout ; and at last, wearied of captivity,
he sallied forth, and to every application for relief,
he specified an early day, requesting the numerous
supplicants to be punctual to the appointed time. His
wish was faithfully attended to ; and on the expected
morning the street where he resided was literally blocked
up. The Major, under a volley of blessings, appeared
at the hall door. " Are you all here ? " he inquired,
in accents of the tenderest compassion. "All, your
honour — all, young and owld ! " responded a big beggar-

24 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

man. " We're all here, colonel, avorneen ! " exclaimed
a red virago, " but my own poor man, Brieney Bokkogh ;*
and he, the crater ! fell into the fire a Sunday night,
and him hearty, and sorrow stir he can make good nor
bad." "Ah, then," said the humane commander,
" why should poor Brien be left out ? Arrah ! run
yourself, and bring the cripple to us." In a twinkling
off went the red virago, and, after a short absence, issued
from a neighbouring lane with Brieney on her shoulders.
" Are you all here now ? " inquired the tender-hearted
chieftain. " Every single sowl of us," said an old woman
in reply. " Ogh ! that the light of heaven may shine
on his honour's dying hour ; but it's he that's tender
to the poor ! " "Amen, Amen ! " responded a
hundred voices. " Silence ! " said the Mad Major,
as he produced a small book neatly bound in red
morocco. " Whisht, your sowls ! " cried the big
beggarman. " Are ye listening ? " " Sha, sha ! yes,
yes ! " was responded in English and Irish. " Then,
by the contents of this blessed book — and it's the Bible
— a rap I won't give one of ye, you infernal vagabonds,
if I remained a twelvemonth in Mullingar ! " A yell
of execrations followed ; but the Major bore the cursing
like a philosopher, and kept his promise like a monk.
To the surprise of all, the beggars left the way when he
walked out, and absconded from the shop he entered.
They crossed themselves devoutly if they encountered
him unexpectedly at a corner, adjuring the Lord to
" stand between them, the Mad Major, and the devil ! "
Apropos to cursing ; the late Sir Charles Asgill told
a story of this eccentric personage. During the time
the 5Oth remained in Ireland, the Colonel was mostly

* Bryan the Cripple.

THE MAD MAJOR. 25

absent from ill-health, and the command, of course,
devolved upon the Major. By one of the military
abuses at that time too common, a little Scotch doctor,
who had somehow been appointed Adjutant to a Fencible
regiment, was transferred from it to the 5Oth. Incom-
petent from professional inability, he was further afflicted
by a constitutional nervousness, that made him badly
calculated to come in contact with such a personage
as the Mad Major.

Shortly after the little Scotchman joined, the half-
yearly inspection took place. Major O'Farrell, in
the course of his evolutions, found it requisite to
deploy into line, and called to his field assistant " to
take an object." " Have you got one ? " cried the
commander in a voice of thunder. " Yes, sir," replied
the alarmed Adjutant, in a feeble squeak. The word
was given, and the right wing kept moving, until the
face of the regiment assumed the form of a semi-circle.
" Hallo ! — where or what is your object ? " roared the
Major. " A crow, sir," replied the unhappy Scotsman.
" And where is the crow ? " roared the Commander.
" Flown off," was the melancholy response. " May the
devil fly away with you, body and bones ! Halt — dress !
Stop, Sir Charles ; do stop. Just allow me two minutes
to curse that rascally Adjutant." To so reasonable a
request Sir Charles, who was a most obliging officer,
readily assented. The General mentioned often that
the damning of a stupid Adjutant was no novelty ; but
that he never saw a man cursed to his perfect satisfac-
tion until he heard the Scotch doctor anathematized
in the Phoenix Park.

The death of poor Denis was in such perfect keeping
with his life, that I am tempted to give it to you.

26 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

The regiment was in garrison, and at a race-ball a
trifling misunderstanding occurred between a young
Ensign and a country gentleman. It was, however,
instantly adjusted. A few days afterwards, some intem-
perate expressions which had fallen from the gentleman
at the ball were reported to the Mad Major. These
he considered as reflecting upon the character of his
corps, and he despatched the senior Captain for an
explanation. The answer to this demand was unsatis-
factory, and the Captain was directed to deliver a hostile
message. The officers of the " Half Hundred " were
a brave body — they vainly endeavoured to make it a
regimental affair, and insisted that the person to resent
the insult should be indifferently selected (by lot) from
the corps.

" Gentlemen, I thank you," said the Mad Major,
as he struck his broad hand upon the mess-table.
" Your motives are personally kind — but as I am at the
head of this regiment, I hold myself to be the
conservator of its honour."

That evening the Major had a violent attack of gout,
to which for years he had been a martyr — but he con-
cealed it carefully, and when his friend called him on
the morning, he was found dressed and powdered, but

unable to move without assistance. Captain M

pressed upon him the necessity of postponing the
meeting, or permitting another officer to be his sub-
stitute ; but Denis was immovable in his resolve. He
proceeded to the ground, and, supported by a crutch,
after a discharge of pistols, received a satisfactory apology.
Poor fellow ! this was his last feat. Exposure to the
cold of a damp spring morning brought on a renewed
attack of gout — that night the disorder settled in his
stomach — and the morning after he was a corpse.

. THE MAD MAJOR. 27

The body was carried to its last resting-place, accom-
panied by all the pomp of a military funeral. His own
beloved company, the Grenadiers who had often followed
their lion-hearted leader into action, now formed his
guard of honour to the grave ; and when his remains
were committed to the earth there was not a dry eye
among the " Dirty Half Hundred."

Two months afterwards, when an Irish soldier was
questioned on the merits of his successor — " The man
is well enough," said Pat, with a heavy sigh, " but
where will we find the equal of the Mad Major ? It
was a comfort to be cursed by him 1 "

28 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER V.

WITHOUT any adventure worthy of a place in this
itinerary, I reached in safety the capital of Mayo. From
other provincial cities, this town is distinguished in having
a new drop and an old gaol ; a swamp in the centre of
the town surrounded by an iron chain, judiciously
placed there, I imagine, to prevent cattle and children
being lost in the morass which it environs ; a court-
house, with a piazza and fa9ade, of an original order of
architecture, only known to Irish professors of the
art of building ; trade and manufactures are limited to
felt-hats and poteen whiskey ; and the only machinery
I could discover was the drop, aforesaid. I was informed
that the chapel and petty-sessions are generally crowded,
as is the market, upon a hanging-day.

I was called next morning at five o'clock by the
waiter to proceed by the Sligo mail, although on the
preceding night I had taken considerable pains to persuade
him that my course lay westward. One hour after-
wards the chamber maid roused me to inquire if I had
any intention of proceeding to Hollymount by a hackney
car. To save these worthy people further trouble, I
arose and dressed, and, wishing to avoid a vestry to be
that day holden in the town, and where, in the course
of argument, it was believed that divers lives would
be lost, I took an early breakfast, and departed.

I stopped at Newport ; it was the last cluster of
houses, arrogating to itself the title of a town, that I
should now meet with, for I had reached the ultima
Thule of civilised Europe — and when I had given

PROGRESS INTO TERRA INCOGNITA. 29

directions to the postmaster touching the transmission
of my letters in my cousin's bag, I looked around me,
and took a silent but mournful farewell of Christendom.

I found at the public-house that my kinsman had
provided for my farther progress into terra incognita.
A couple of rudely-constructed vehicles were waiting
to receive myself and personal property, and a wild,
bare-legged mountaineer, with a leathern bag strapped
across his shoulders, announced himself as guide.
" Had he no horse ? " — " Devil a harse ! but he would
warrant he would keep up with me " — and away we
went under a salute of our dogs and the furtive glances
of sundry ladies with their hair in papers.

Some distance from the town we crossed an ancient
bridge of many arches, through which an extensive
lake communicates with the sea, and farther on passed
the old tower of Carrigahowla. Our route was con-
tiguous to the sea — on the left were the numerous islands
of Clew Bay ; on the right an extensive chain of savage
hills and barren moorland. The road now became
hardly passable ; constructed without the least regard
to levelness — here it dipped into a ravine, and there
breasted some sudden hill, inaccessible to any carriage
but the light machines we travelled with. Its surface
was rough, and interrupted by a multitude of loose
stones ; while some of the bridges were partially dilapi-
dated, and others had never been completed. In these
the ragged line of granite which formed the key-stones
of the arches stood nakedly up, and presented a barrier
that no common carriage could overtop without
endangering its springs and harness. Yet this forlorn
road is the only communication with a highly improv-
able country, covering at least fifty square miles, with

30 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

numerous and profitable islands attached, and an
immense line of seacoast, possessing rich fisheries,
and abounding in kelp-weed and manure ! And why
was this neglect ? Were the proprietors of this deserted
district so cold to that true spring of human action, self-
aggrandizement, as to omit providing an outlet for the
sources of their opulence ? Were there no public monies
allocated to these abandoned corners of the earth, and
so much lavishly expended on many a useless under-
taking elsewhere ? Yes : large sums had been presented
and re-presented by the Grand Juries for the last twenty
years, but they have been regularly pocketed by those
to whose good faith they were entrusted. Would it
be believed in England, George, that this atrocious
system of peculation has been carried to such an extent
that roads have been passed as completed when their
lines have been but roughly marked out — and bridges
been actually paid for, the necessary accounting affi-
davits having been sworn to in open court, when not a
stone was ever laid, and to this day the stream runs
without a solitary arch to span its flood from the source
to the debouchement ? Ay — these delinquencies have
been often and notoriously perpetrated, and none have
had the courage to drag the criminals to justice.

At the clachan of Mulranny we struck into a pass
in the mountains, and turned our backs upon Clew Bay.
A branch from the waters of Black Sod runs some ten
miles inland, and meets this opening in the hills,
affording a communication by boats with Erris. There
my kinsman's galley was waiting for me, and in it I
embarked my person and establishment. Taking
advantage of a south-westerly wind, the boatmen hoisted
their close-reefed lug, and away we shot rapidly towards

PROGRESS INTO TERRA INCOGNITA. 31

the entrance of the inlet. From the high lands which
rose on every side, the squalls fell more heavily and
frequent than I found agreeable ; but in an hour we
cleared this confined and dangerous channel, and,
running between Currane Point and the island of Innis
Biggie, entered Black Sod Bay.

The passage down the inlet was marked with several
incidents which were in perfect keeping with the wild
and savage scenery around. A seal would suddenly
raise his round head above the surface, gaze for a moment
at the boat, and, when he had apparently satisfied his
curiosity, sink quietly from our view. In rounding
the numerous headlands through which this inlet irreg-
ularly winds, we often started flocks of curlews, which,
rising in an alarm at our unexpected appearance, made
the rocks ring with their loud and piercing whistle.
Skirting the shore of Innis Biggie, we disturbed an
os'prey, or sea-eagle, in the act of feeding on a bird.
He rose leisurely, and, lighting on a rock, waited till we
passed, and then returned to his prey. We ran suffi-
ciently close to the shore to observe the size and colour
of the bird, and concluded that a grouse had been the
eagle's victim.

When we had cleared the islands, the breeze blew
fresh and steadily ; the boatmen shook out the reefs
which had hitherto confined their canvas ; the galley
with increased velocity rushed through the rippling
water, till, doubling a neck of land surmounted by a
ruined castle, and running up a sheltered creek, I found
myself at the termination of my voyage, and warmly
welcomed by my Irish kinsman, from whom for fifteen
years I had been separated.

I have been here three days, and am as much domes-

32 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

ticated in the mansion as my cousin's Newfoundland
dog. I know the names and " sobriquet " of the estab-
lishment ; can discriminate between " Hamish-a-neilan "
(James of the island) and Andy-bawn (Fair Andy) ; I
hold converse with the cook, and am hand-in-glove
with the housemaid. Really, I am delighted with the
place, for everything is wild, new, and out-of-the-way ;
but I must describe the locale of my kinsman's domicile.
At the bottom of a narrow creek you must imagine
" a low, snug dwelling, and in good repair." The foam
of the Atlantic breaks sometimes against the windows,
while a huge cliff, seaward, defends it from the storm,
and, on the land side, a sudden hill shelters it from the
north wind. Here, when the tempest roars abroad,
your friend Laura might venture forth and not endanger
a papillotte. The bent* roof is impervious to the rain ;
the rooms are neat, well arranged, and comfortable.
In the parlour, if the evening be chilly, a turf fire
sparkles on the hearth ; and when dried bog-deal is
added to the embers, it emits a fragrant and delightful
glow, superseding the necessity of candles. The long
and measured swell of the Atlantic would almost lull
a troubled conscience to repose ; and that rural hum,
which attends upon the farmyard, rouses the refreshed
sleeper in the morning. In the calm of evening I hear
the shrill cry of the sand-lark ; and in the early dawn,
the crowing of the cock grouse. I see the salmon
fling themselves over the smooth tide, as they hurry from
the sea to re-ascend their native river. And while I
drink claret that never paid the revenue a farthing,
or indulge over that proscribed beverage — the produce
and the scourge of this wild district — I trace from the
* The customary thatch in parts of Erris.

PROGRESS INTO TFRRA INCOGNITA. 33

window the outline of a range of hills, where the original
red-deer of Ireland are still existing — none of your
park-fed venison, that tame, spiritless, diminutive,
which a boy may assassinate with his " birding-piece,"
but the remnant of that noble stock, which hunters of
other days, O'Connor the Cus Dhu* and Cortnac Bazvn
Mac Tavish, once delighted in pursuing.

The offices of this wild dwelling are well adapted to the
edifice. In winter the ponies have their stable, and kine
and sheep a comfortable shed. Nor are the dogs for-
gotten ; for them a warm and sheltered kennel is fitted
up with benches, and well provided with straw. Many
a sporting-lodge in England, on which thousands have
been expended, lacks the comforts of my kinsman's
unpretending cottage. Where are the coach-houses ?
Those, indeed, would be useless appendages ; for the
nearest road on which a wheel could turn is ten miles
distant from the lodge.

* Blackfoot

34 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER VI.

THE last post-bag brought a large supply of news-
papers and monthly literature. " Gad-o'-mercy ! "
what notions the fishermen of Cockaign must have of
the " gentle art ! " It is amusing to read the piscatory
articles so seriously put forth in the sporting periodicals.
No persons on earth suffer more personal inconvenience
than the Cockney artist, or submit so patiently to pecu-
niary imposition — and, like virtue, their trouble is its
own reward. Punt-fishing and perch-fishing, baiting-
holes and baiting-hooks, appear to the mountain
fisherman so utterly worthless that I do not wonder at
the sovereign contempt with which he regards the
unprofitable pursuits of the city angler.

What a contrast to the Cockney bustle of a Londoner
does my cousin's simple preparation for a morning's
sport exhibit ! If the wind and clouds are favourable,
the rod, ready jointed and spliced, is lifted from beneath
the cottage eave, where it " lay like a warrior taking his
rest " on a continuation of level pegs. The gaff and
pannier are produced by a loose-looking mountaineer,
whose light-formed but sinewy limbs are untrammelled
by shoe or stocking. Fond of the sport himself, he
evinces an ardent interest in your success ; on the moor
and by the river he is a good-humoured and obliging
assistant. ; traverses the mountains for a day, and lies
out on the hill-side through the long autumnal night,
to watch the passage of the red deer as they steal down
from the mountain-top to browse on the lower grounds
by moonlight.

How different from this wild and cheerful follower

HOOKING MY FIRST SALMON. 35

are the sporting attendants of the unhappy Cockney !
He must consort with " bacon-fed knaves," be the
companion of your brawny, jolter-headed, porter-
swollen waterman, who in sulky silence paddles his
employer into some phlegmatic pool, where the disciple
of Walton is secure of the lumbago, but by no means
certain of a sprat.

In truth, I am half ashamed of myself : I came here
loaded with rods, flies and baskets, with the " thousand
and one " nameless et cetera furnished from a city
tackle-shop, in their uses and appearance various as the
cargo of the ark. When I displayed yesterday this
accumulation of " engines and cunning devices," my
cousin burst into a roar of laughter, and inquired if I
intended to annihilate the fishery ? Then, turning,
leaf by leaf, three immense fly-books over, he praised
the pretty feathers, commended the brightness of the
tinsel, and good-naturedly assured me that this rich
assemblage did not possess a fly of the value of one
farthing. I fear his verdict was a true one ; I have
tried two days consecutively and never hooked a fish.
But no, the water was too low, the wind too high, or
something was amiss, for I have the best flies procurable
in the best shop in London.

The storm terminated, as summer gales do, in a heavy
fall of rain. Although the wears are raised to intercept
the passage of the fish from the sea, the late freshes,
joined to a spring tide, have enabled both trout and
salmon to overleap the barrier and fill the pools above
it. Want of success had damped my ardour for pisca-
tion ; and, besides, I had involved myself in a most
amusing article in Blackwood, and felt an unwillingness
to lay aside the book. At this moment of indecision

36 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

old Antony, the otter-killer, one of that numerous and
nondescript personages who locate themselves in the
houses of the Irish gentry, passed the window with a
fine salmon and a brace of trout sixteen inches long.
How fresh and sparkling is the phosphoric shading of the
scales, as the old man turns them round for my inspec-
tion ! What a beautiful fish ! it barely measures
thirty inches, and is fully ten pounds weight ! That
short and deep-shouldered briddavm* is worth all the
lubberly roach, dace, perch, and gudgeons that the
Thames contains from its source to its debouchement.
I looked after the ancient otter-hunter with envy.
How lowly would he be estimated in the eyes of a Cheap-
side fisherman ; one who wears a modest-coloured
jacket,f lest a showy garment might annoy the plethoric
animals he is dabbling for — whose white basket is
constructed of the finest wicker-work — with rods and
reels, floats and flies, pastes and patties, lines and liqueurs
sufficient to load a donkey — how contemptuously would
he look down upon honest Antony ! Figure to your-
self a little feeble man, dressed in a jerkin of coarse
blue cloth, with an otter (a fancy of my cousin's)
blazoned on his arm : in one hand he holds a fish-spear,
which assists him when he meets with rugged ground,
in the other, a very unpretending angle, jointed rudely
with a pen-knife, and secured by waxen threads ; a
cast of flies are wound about his hat, and his remaining
stock, not exceeding half-a-dozen, are contained between

* A salmon.

f " Our forefathers were wont to pursue even their amusements
with great formality : an angler, a century and a half back, must
have his fishing-coat, which, if not black, must at least be of a very
dark colour, a black velvet cap, like those which jockeys now wear,
and a rod with a stock like a halberd ; thus equipped, he stalked
forth, followed by the eyes of a whole neighbourhood." — -Daniel.

HOOKING MY FIRST SALMON. 37

the leaves of a tattered song-book : in the same deposi-
tory he has some silk, dyed mohair, a hare's ear, and a
few feathers from the cock, brown turkey, and mallard ;
and these simple materials furnish him with most efficient
flies, but he requires a bright day to fabricate them, as
his sight is indifferent.

It required much persuasion and a positive assurance
of success, before I ventured with my kinsman to the river.
Ten minutes' easy walking brought us to a noble pool
above the wear, where my friend never fails to kill a
salmon, if the wind be westerly and the water not too
low. The water was in beautiful order, and my cousin
insisted that under his direction I should once more
try my fortune with the fishing-rod. Discarding my
gaudy flies with a malediction upon the knaves who
tied them, he affixed two of his upon the casting-line ;
and nothing could be of a simpler character than those
selected from his book. The tail-fly was a plain black
and orange mohair body, with a long and pointed turkey-
feather wing ; the dropper was formed of blue and
scarlet wool, ribbed with silver, a pheasant sprit for legs,
and mixed wings of the turkey and mallard.

I made several unsuccessful casts : "A bad look-out,
friend Julius. Heaven forfend that the cook has placed
any dependence on the angle ! " Again I tried the pool,
and, like all disappointed fishermen, began to prog-
nosticate a change of weather. " I had remarked
mares' tails in the sky yesterday evening, and there was
rain overhead, for a hundred ! " My cousin smiled ;
when suddenly my nebulous speculations were inter-
rupted by a deep, sluggish roll at the dropper. " Mona-
mondiaotd ! "* exclaimed Mortien Beg,^ as he caught
* An Irish imprecation. f Wttle Martin.

38 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

a momentary glance of the broad and fan-like tail.
" He is fifteen pound weight ! " Obedient to the
directions of my mentor, I left the spot the salmon
leaped in, and commenced casting a dozen yards below
it. Gradually I came over him again. " A light cast,
Frank, and you have him ! " I tried, and succeeded
gallantly. I sent the fly across the water with the
lightness of the thistle's down as at the same moment
the breeze eddied up the stream, and curled the surface
deliciously. A long, dull ruffle succeeded — whish !
span the wheel ; whish-h-h-h-h, whish-h-h, whish ! I
have him !

Nothing can be more beautiful than the play of a
vigorous salmon. The lubberly struggles of a pond-
fish are execrable to him who has felt the exquisite
pleasure that attends the conquest of " the monarch
of the stream." His bold rushes — his sudden and
rapid attempts to liberate himself from the fisher's
thrall — the energy with which he throws his silver body
three or four feet above the surface of the water — and
the unwearied and incessant opposition he makes, until
his strength is exhausted by the angler's science ; all
this must be experienced to be adequately conceived.
In ten minutes I mastered my beautiful victim ; and
Mortien Beg gaffed and landed a splendid summer
fish, which, if the cook's scales be correct, weighed
thirteen pounds and seven ounces.

Overjoyed with my success, I proceeded up the
river. My cousin brought me to several delightful
pools ; and, with his assistance, I raised and hooked
several capital fish, but only landed one of them, a nice
and active salmon of about eight pounds weight. From
half a dozen white trout fresh from the sea I received

HOOKING MY FIRST SALMON 39

excellent amusement ; and at six o'clock returned to
dinner gratified with my sport, pleased with myself,
and at peace with all mankind, excepting that confounded
cozener, the tackle-merchant in Street.

Over our wine, the conversation naturally turned
upon the " gentle art." My kinsman is both a practical
and a scientific angler. " Holding, with few excep-
tions, all published sporting productions in disrepute,
one that I remarked on your bookstand, Julius, strikes
me as being at the same time clever and useful : I mean
Sir Humphry Davy's."

"It is both, Frank : his account of the habits and
natural history of the salmon species is just, ingenious,
and amusing ; and there is a calm and philosophic
spirit that pervades the whole, rendering it a work of
more than common interest. But, practically, it is
as useless as all Guides and Manuals, since the days of
Walton. Of the uninitiated it will make fishermen,
where Colonel Hawker's directions enables a man to
shoot, who has never been five miles from Holborn-
bars. I doubt not but Sir Humphry was an ardent and
scientific fisherman, but in many practical points I
differ with him. He angled well, but he fished like a
philosopher. If he haunted this river for a season,
unless he altered his system materially, he would not
kill a dozen salmon. Flies, such as he describes, would
never, in any seasons or weathers, be successful here.
He fairly says, that ' different rivers require different
flies ; ' but nothing like those he recommends would
answer this one ; — and, although many of the theories
and speculative opinions are very ingenious, I question
much their validity."

40 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

CHAPTER VII.

THE morning had a sullen look ; Slieve More retained
his nightcap ; the edge of the horizon where the ocean
met the sky was tinged with a threatening glare of lurid
sunshine ; the wind was capricious as a woman's love
— now swelling into gusts, now sinking to a calm, as
the unsteady breeze shifted round to every point " i'
the shipman's card." As evening approached, the
clouds collected in denser masses, and the giant outline
of Slieve More was lost in a sheet of vapour. The swell
from the Atlantic broke louder on the bar ; the piercing
whistle of the curlew was heard more frequently ; and
the small hard- weather tern, which seldom leaves the
Black Rock but to harbinger a coming tempest, was
ominously busy ; whirling aloft in rapid circles, or
plunging its long and pointed wing into the broken
surface of the billow. All portended a storm ; the wind
freshened momentarily, and at last blew steadily from
the south-east.

I was at the door, engaged in speculating upon the
signs of the approaching gale, when old John, my
kinsman's grey-headed butler, summoned me to dinner.
— Some say that a bachelor's repast has always a lonely
and comfortless appearance ; and it may be so. I
grant that a sprinkling of the sexes adds to the social
character of the table ; but this apart, with the abate-
ment of that best society — lovely woman, who shall
dine more luxuriously than I ? Two hours' rabbit-
shooting in the sand-hills has given me a keen and whole-

THE BUND SEAL. 41

some appetite. That salmon at noon was disporting
in the sea, and this kid was fatted among the heath-
flowers of the mountain-glen. Kitchener and Kelly
could take no exception to the cookery ; and had these
worthies still been inhabitants of " this fair round
globe," the Doctor would have found ample amusement
for " every man's master, the stomach," and honest
Myke might have safely ventured to dinner without
his " sauce piquant e."

In due time the cloth disappeared ; a bundle of
split bog-deal was laid upon the hearth, and speedily
lighted into a cheerful blaze. Old John, with the privi-
lege of an ancient retainer, conversed with us as he
extracted a fresh cork for the evening's potation. "Awful
weather in July, sir. Well, that Shawn a tra buoy* is
a wonderful beast ; I knew a change of weather was at
hand when he rose beside the shore last night, and
showed his grey head and shoulders over the water."

" Is the seal, John, a sure foreteller of an approaching
storm ? "

" A certain one, sir : I remember him from I was a
boy in the old master's kitchen — the Lord be merciful
to his soul ! Shawn a tra buoy's features are as familiar
to me as my own ; I would swear to him among a
thousand."

" You see him frequently ? "

" Oh, yes, sir. When the salmon come in, he is every
day upon the yellow strand opposite the lodge ; there
you will see him chase the fish into the shoal-water,
catch them beside the boats, ay, or if that fails, take them
from the nets, and rob the fishermen. Year after year
he has returned with the salmon, spending his summer

* Jack of the yellow strand.

42 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

on the ' tra-buoy,' and his winter near Carrig-a-
boddagh."

" How has he escaped so long, John ? Has he not
been often fired at? "

" A thousand times ; the best marksmen in the
country have tried him without success. People say
that, like the master otter, he has a charmed life ; and
latterly nobody meddles with him."

Old John's narrative was interrupted by the entrance
of another personage ; he was a stout, burly-looking
man, with indifferent good features, a figure of uncommon
strength, and a complexion of the deepest bronze. He
is the skipper of my cousin's hooker. After a career
of perilous adventure in piloting the Flushing smugglers
to the coast, he has abandoned his dangerous trade, to
pass an honester and safer life in future.
" Well, Pattigo* what news ? "

" The night looks dirty enough, sir ; shall we run
the hooker round to Tallaghon, and get the rowing-
boats drawn up ? " His master assented, and ordered
.him the customary glass of poteen. Pattigo received
it graciously in the fingers of his right hand — for he has
lost his thumb by the bursting of a blunderbuss in one
of his skirmishes with the Revenue — made his ship-shape
bow, clapped his sou'-wester on, and vanished.

The storm came on apace ; large and heavy drops
struck heavily against the windows ; the blast moaned
round the house ; I heard the boats' keels grate upon
the gravel as the fishermen hauled them up the beach ;
I saw Pattigo slip his moorings, and, under the skirt of
his main-sail, run for a safer anchorage. The rain now
fell in torrents ; the sea rose, and broke upon the rocks
* A by-name.

THE BLIND SEAL. 43

in thunder ; mine host directed the storm-shutters
to be put up, ordered in candles, with a fresh supply
of billets for the fire, and we made final preparations
to be comfortable for the night.

Were I required to name the most rechercM of my
kinsman's luxuries, I should specify his unrivalled
" canastre." An ample quantity of this precious tabac
(brought from Holland by a smuggler), with excellent
Dutch pipes, was produced by honest John, who rises
hourly in my estimation. There was also an addendum
in the shape of a foreign-looking bottle, which the
ancient servitor averred to have been deposited in the
cellar since the time of " the master's father." If it
were so, the thing is a marvel ; for such liquor is rarely
vouchsafed to mortals. Alas ! George, while my aching
head testifies a too devoted attachment to that misshapen
flask, the unequalled flavour of the exquisite schiedam
it contained will ever haunt my memory.

I remarked," said my kinsman, as he struck the
ashes from his meerschaum, " that you appeared amused
with old John's history of Shawn a tra buoy. Although
in its wild state, the seal is always shy, and sometimes
dangerous, yet, when taken young, it is easily domesti-
cated, and susceptible of strong attachment to its
keepers. In January, 1819. in the neighbourhood of
Burnt Island, a gentleman completely succeeded in
taming a seal ; its singularities attracted the curiosity
of strangers daily. It appeared to possess all the sagacity
of the dog, and lived in its master's house, and ate from
his hand. In his fishing excursions this gentleman
generally took it with him ; upon which occasion it
afforded no small entertainment. When thrown into
the water, it would follow for miles the track of the

44 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

boat, and although thrust back by the oars, it never
relinquished its purpose ; indeed, it struggled so hard
to regain its seat, that one would imagine its fondness
for its master had entirely overcome the natural predi-
lection for its native element. There is a curious story
told of one of these animals — I believe the leading
incidents of the narrative to be perfectly authentic,
and it is a memorable record of enduring attachment
in the animal, and exquisite barbarity in the man. The
tale runs thus : —

" About 40 years ago a young seal was taken in Clew
Bay, and domesticated in the kitchen of a gentleman,
whose house was situated on the sea-shore. It grew
apace, became familiar with the servants, and attached
to the house and family ; its habits were innocent and
gentle ; it played with the children, came at its master's
call, and, as the old man described him to me, was ' fond
as a dog, and playful as a kitten.'

" Daily the seal went out to fish, and, after providing
for his own wants, frequently brought in a salmon or
turbot to his master. His delight in summer was to
bask in the sun, and in winter to lie before the fire,
or, if permitted, creep into the large oven, which at that
time formed the regular appendage of an Irish kitchen.
" For four years the seal had been thus domesticated,
when, unfortunately, a disease, called in this country
the crippawn — a kind of paralytic affection of the limbs,
which generally ends fatally — attacked some black cattle
belonging to the master of the house ; some died, others
became infected, and the customary cure produced by
changing them to drier pasture failed. A wise woman
was consulted, and the hag assured the credulous owner
that the mortality among his cows was occasioned by

THE BLIND SEAL. 45

his retaining an unclean beast about his habitation —
the harmless and amusing seal. It must be made away
with directly, or the crippawn would continue, and her
charms be unequal to avert the malady. The super-
stitious wretch consented to the hag's proposal ; and the
seal was put on board a boat, carried out beyond Clare
Island, and there committed to the deep, to manage
for himself as he best could. The boat returned, the
family retired to rest, and next morning a servant
awakened her master to tell him that the seal was quietly
sleeping in the oven. The poor animal overnight came
back to his beloved home, crept through an open window,
and took possession of his favourite resting-place.

" Next morning another cow was reported to be
unwell ; and the seal must now be finally removed.
A Galway fishing-boat was leaving Westport on her
return home, and the master undertook to carry off
the seal, and not put him overboard until he had gone
leagues beyond Innis BofBn. It was done ; a day and
night passed ; the second evening closed ; the servant
was raking the fire for the night ; something scratched
gently at the door — it was, of course, the house-dog —
she opened it, and in came the seal ! Wearied with
his long and unusual voyage, he testified, by a peculiar
cry expressive of pleasure, his delight to find himself
at home ; then stretching himself before the glowing
embers of the hearth, he fell into a deep sleep.

" The master of the house was immediately apprised
of this unexpected and unwelcome visit. In the
exigency, the beldame was awakened and consulted :
she averred that it was always unlucky to kill a seal,
but suggested that the animal should be deprived of
sight and a third time carried out to sea. To this

46 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

fiendish proposition the besotted wretch who owned the
house consented ; and the affectionate and confiding
creature was cruelly robbed of sight on that hearth,
for which he had resigned his native element ! Next
morning, writhing in agony, the mutilated seal was
embarked, taken outside Clare Island, and for the last
time committed to the waves.

" A week passed over, and things became worse
instead of better ; the cattle of the truculent wretch
died fast, and the infernal hag gave him the pleasurable
tidings that her arts were useless, and that the destruc-
tive visitation upon his cattle exceeded her skill and
cure.

" On the eighth night after the seal had been devoted
to the Atlantic, it blew tremendously. In the pauses
of the storm a wailing noise at times was faintly heard
at the door. The servants, who slept in the kitchen,
concluded that the Banshee came to forewarn them of
an approaching death, and buried their heads in the
bed-coverings. When morning broke, the door was
opened — and the seal was there lying dead upon the
threshold ! "

" Stop, Julius ! " I exclaimed, " give me a moment's
time to curse all concerned in this barbarism."

" Be patient, Frank," said my cousin, " the finale will
probably save you that trouble. The skeleton of the
once plump animal — for, poor beast, it perished from
hunger, being incapacitated from blindness to procure
its customary food — was buried in a sand-hill, and from
that moment misfortunes followed the abettors and per-
petrators of this inhuman deed. The detestable hag
who had denounced the inoffensive seal was, within
a twelvemonth, hanged for murdering the illegitimate

THE BLIND SEAL. 47

offspring of her own daughter. Everything about this
devoted house melted away ; sheep rotted, cattle died,
' and blighted was the corn.' Of several children,
none reached maturity, and the savage proprietor
survived everything he loved or cared for. He died
blind and miserable.

" There is not a stone of that accursed building
standing upon another. The property has been passed
to a family of a different name, and the series of incessant
calamity which pursued all concerned in this cruel deed
is as romantic as true."

It was midnight ; I laid down my pipe, took a candle
from the sideboard, wished my cousin a " good night,"
and went to bed, full of pity for the gentle and affec-
tionate seal.

48 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE night throughout continued wild and blus-
trous ; the squalls which shook the casements became
less frequent and violent towards morning ; the wind
settled in the south, and dying gradually away, was
succeeded by a heavy and constant fall of rain. To
stir out of doors was impossible ; the Lodge is unpro-
vided with a billiard-table, and it requires ingenuity
to contrive some occupation for the long duration of a
summer's day.

The breakfast was prolonged as much as possible ;
it ended, however, and my kinsman left me to give
some necessary directions to his household. I seated
myself in the window ; the view seaward was interrupted
by the thickness of the weather, the rain dropped from
the thatch incessantly, the monotonous splash of the
falling water, with the sombre influence of a dull and
torpid atmosphere, gradually produced a drowsiness,
and I fell fast asleep over a dull collection of sporting
anecdotes. My cousin's return roused me ; he placed
a spider-table beside the window, and having unlocked
a box filled with angling materials, " in great and mar-
vellous disorder," proceeded to extract from a mass
of unmentionable things the requisites for dressing
a cast or two of flies. As my own voluminous book
had been sadly discomposed in the numerous inter-
changes I made, when vainly trying to seduce a salmon
to try my " tinsel and fine feathers," I proceeded to
arrange my splendid collection, while my kinsman was
busied with his own simple stock. The disappointment

PISCATORY DISQUISITIONS. 49

I had endured in finding my flies so unprofitable, had
made me hold the entire outfit of the London artist in
disrepute ; and I would have given my most elaborate
and expensive fishing-rod for the hazel angle of the ancient
otter-killer.

" Frank," said my cousin, " you must not undervalue
what really is unexceptionable ; I mean the mechanical
part of your collection. Those rods are beautiful ;
and your reels, lines, gut, and hooks cannot be surpassed ;
your flies may be excellent in an English river, so put
them carefully aside, as I will supply you with some better
adapted to our mountain streams. But what a size
that book is ! In fishing, as in literature, the school-
men's adage holds, Mega biblion, mega kakon. Why,
nothing but a soldier's pack would carry it ! We will
soon, however, render you independent of this mighty
magazine, by teaching you to fabricate your own flies."

" I fear I am too old to learn ; the art of tying must,
I presume, be acquired early in life, and brought to
perfection by after experience."

" This does not always follow ; I did, when a boy,
tie flies passably ; but, having left off fishing when I
removed from my native river, I forgot the art, and
depended on others for my supply. The person who
furnished my casting-lines fell sick, and it unluckily
happened that his illness occurred in the best period
of the season ; and as the river was filled with fish,
constant service soon wore out my scanty store. Neces-
sity is the mother — you know the proverb — I was
sadly reduced ; ground blunted hooks and patched
ravelling bodies, till at last my stock was reduced to
half-a-dozen, and that half-dozen to perfect skeletons.
What was to be done ? Man is an imitative animal —

5O WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

I endeavoured to fabricate — produced something
between a bird and a bee — tried again, succeeded better ;
and before my artist had recovered, by the shade of
Walton ! I could turn out a reputable fly."

" I believe I must make an attempt."

" You shall succeed, and, as a preliminary, I will put
you under the tutelage of my worthy neighbour, the priest.
Observe his style of casting, and mark the facility with
which he sends five-and-thirty feet of hair and gut
across the broadest pool. I fish tolerably, but have
repeatedly laid aside my rod to admire the beautiful
casting of this perfect master of the angle."

" He ties a very handsome fly, no doubt."

" I won't say that — he ties a very killing one. I
expect him presently ; and as the day is wet, I'll leave
the materials ready, and to-morrow, if the rain ceases
soon, we shall prove the value of his flies.

"As we are on the subject of tying, I must observe
that the advantage one derives from being able to
construct his own flies is wonderful ; in fact, without
attaining this accomplishment in the ' gentle art ' no
one can fish comfortably or successfully. No stock,
however extensive, will afford a supply adapted for
every change of weather and water ; and a man may lose
a day overlooking an interminable variety of kinds and
colours in a vain search after one killing fly. Not
so the artist : the favourite insect being once
ascertained, he speedily produces an imitation, and
fills his basket ; while his less fortunate neighbour
is idly turning the pages of his over-stocked fishing-book.

" I had two sporting friends, who were excellent

instances of this. Colonel S was an ardent, and,

I may add, a very tolerable angler ; and no one went

PISCATORY DISQUISITIONS. 51

to more trouble and expense in procuring the most
approved flies. He never tied, or attempted to tie one,
and he assured me he had many hundred dozens in his
possession. To find a new fly was with him sometimes
the labour of a day ; and when about to try another
water, he would spend hours toiling through his immense
collection before he could succeed in discovering the
necessary colour and description. I have seen him,
with Job-like patience, labouring through endless papers
and parcels in search of a paltry insect that I could
fabricate in five minutes.

" His companion, Captain B , ran into an opposite

extreme. He rarely had a second casting-line, and
seldom a second set of flies. Did the day change,
or the river fill or lower, he sat down on the bank, ripped
wings and dubbings from his hooks, and prepared a
new outfit in a twinkling. I never met an angler who

was so certain of filling a basket as my friend B .

His system, however, I would totally disapprove of.
Without burthening oneself with enough to furnish out
a tackle-shop, a small and effective collection is desirable ;
and it is absurd to lose a fortunate half-hour tying on
the river bank, what could be more conveniently fabri-
cated during the tedium of a wet day within doors.
An accident may rob the most discreet angler of his
flies, and surely it is necessary to have a fresh relay to
put up. But though I take a sufficiency along with me,
I never leave home without being provided with the
materials for constructing new ones. An hour may
bring ephemerae on the waters, which you must imitate,
or you will cast in vain ; before evening they have
vanished and given place to some new variety of the
insect world. Thus far, at least, the tier possesses an

^2 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

advantage over him who cannot produce a fly, that no
collection which human ingenuity can form will com-
pensate.

" The best practical lesson I ever got originated in
the following accidental occurrence. Some years ago
I received private information that a travelling tinker,
who occasionally visited these mountains to make and
repair the tin stills used by the peasantry in illicit dis-
tillation, was in the constant habit of destroying fish,
and he was represented as being a most successful
poacher. I was returning down the river after an
unfavourable day, a wearied and a disappointed fisher-
man, and observed, at a short distance, a man chased
across the bogs by several others, and eventually over-
taken and secured. It was the unfortunate tinker,
surprised by the keepers in the very act of landing a
splendid salmon ; two, recently killed, were discovered
in his wallet, and yet that blessed day I could not hook
a fish ! He was forthwith brought in durance before
my honour to undergo the pains and penalties of his
crime. He was a strange, raw-boned, wild-looking
animal, and I half suspect Sir Walter Scott had seen
him before he sketched Watt Tinlin in the ' Lay.'
He was a convicted felon — he had no plea to offer, for
he was taken in the very act. But he made two pro-
positions wherewithal to obtain his liberty — ' He
would never sin again — or he would fight any two of the
captors.' My heart yearned towards him — he was,
after all, a brother — and admitting that rod and coat
were not worth threepence, still he was an adept in the
' gentle art, ' although the most ragged disciple that
ever Walton boasted. I forgave him, dismissed the
captors, and ordered him to the Lodge for refreshment.

PISCATORY DISQUISITIONS. 53

' My honour had no sport,' and he looked carelessly
at my flies. ' Would I condescend to try one of his ? '
And he put a strange-looking combination of wool
and feathers on the casting-line. There was a fine
pool near us — I tried it, and at the second cast I was
fast in a twelve-pound salmon ! My ragged friend
remained with me some days ; and in his sober intervals,
' few and far between,' gave me lessons in the art
that have been more serviceable than any I had hitherto
acquired.

" Two years after I was obliged to attend the winter
fair of Ball to purchase cattle. It was twilight when
I left it, and I had proceeded only a few miles towards
a gentleman's house, where I was to dine and sleep,
when my horse cast a shoe, and forced me to leave him
at a smith's shop, which was fortunately at hand. The
evening was chilly, and I determined to proceed on
foot, directing my servant to follow. I passed a lonely
poteen-house — several ruffian-looking fellows were on
the road beside it. They were half-drunk and insolent
— I was rash — words borrowed blows, and I soon
discovered that I should have the worst of the battle,
and was tolerably certain of a sound drubbing. Sud-
denly an unexpected ally came to my assistance ; he
dropped the most formidable of the assailants as if he had
been struck down by a sledge-hammer. A few blows
settled the contest ; and I turned round to recognise
and thank my deliverer. ' Ton my sowl, you're
mighty handy, Master Julius ; it's a murder that ye
don't practise oftener 1 ' The speaker was my gifted
friend — the tinker."

54 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

CHAPTER IX.

To look at the map of Mayo, one would imagine

that Nature had designed that county for a sportsman.

The westerly part is wild and mountainous ; alpine

ridges of highlands interpose between the ocean and the

interior, and from the bases of these hills a boundless

tract of heath and moorland extends in every direction.

To the east, the face of the country undergoes a striking

change — large and extensive plains cover the surface,

and as the lands are generally occupied in pasturage,

and consequently not sub -divided into the numerous

enclosures which are requisite in tillage farming, this

part of Mayo is justly in high estimation as a hunting

country, and for centuries has been a favourite fixture

of the neighbouring fox-hunters. The Plains, as this

sporting district is usually denominated, afford constant

opportunities for the horse to show his powers and the

rider his nerve. The parks are of immense size ; the

fences stiff and safe ; the surface agreeably undulated,

and, from the firmness of the sward, affording superior

galloping ground. One may occasionally ride over

miles without being necessitated to take a leap ; but

when one does meet fences, they are generally raspers ;

and if the scent lies, and the dogs can go, nothing but

a tip-top horse, and a man " who takes everything as

God sends it," will hold a forward place upon the plains.

The covers in the vicinity of the plains are numerous

and well supplied with foxes. Of these animals there

is no scarcity anywhere in Mayo ; but in the mountain

districts there is, unfortunately, a superabundance.

SPORTING TOPOGRAPHY OF MAYO. 55

The herdsman and grouse-shooter complain sadly of
their devastations ; and notwithstanding numbers are
annually dug out for hunting, or destroyed by the
peasantry, there seems to be an anti-Malthusian property
in the animal, which enables its mischievous stock,
maugre traps and persecution, to increase and multiply.

While the country is peculiarly adapted for field-
sports, the extensive lakes and numerous rivers offer
every inducement to the angler : the streams are plenti-
fully stocked with trout, and the rivers which commu-
nicate with the sea have a good supply of salmon.
Curious varieties* of the finny tribe are to be found
in the mountain loughs ; and in those noble and expan-
sive sheets of water, Lough Con, Lough Mask, and
Lough Corrib, the largest and finest specimens of fish
are easily obtained.

We have just had a domiciliary visit from the revenue
police. Under cover of the night they made a descent
upon our valleys from their station, some fifteen miles
off. Excepting causing dire alarm — a general abduc-
tion of stills, worms, and all the apparatus of the craft,
and the concealment of malt, and the burying of kegs —
the consequences of the foray have not been important.
One fatal casualty occurred : a distillery had finished
its brewing (i.e., distilled the quantity brewed), and
principals and accessories were indulging a little after
their exertions. Unluckily, the revenue stumbled upon
the convivial meeting ; and although the stuff was gone,
the still, apparatus, and unextinguished fire were proofs
positive that the king — God bless him ! — had been woe-
fully defrauded. Such of the party as could strike a
walk escaped without difficulty ; but two unhappy
* For example, the Gillaroo and Par.

56 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

gentlemen who were blind drunk, and fast asleep in all
security before the smouldering embers of the still-
fire, were captured and conveyed to my loving cousin,
to undergo the pains and penalties of their crime. He,
as a matter of course, committed them to gaol ; and the
next going judge, as another matter of course, will
discharge them. Meanwhile they are taken from their
families, and supported at the expense of the county ;
their utility is lost when it is most requisite, and they are,
during the term of incarceration, a useless burden upon
the community. I cannot see the moral and legal
expediency of all this ; but the men who framed the
revenue laws were probably more clear-sighted than I
am.

When I first observed a score of banditti in blue
jackets and white cross-belts arranged before the Lodge,
I felt particularly nervous ; and old John, my refuge
in perplexity, was immediately consulted. " John,"
said I, in a masonic whisper, " are we safe ? " — " Safe :
from what, Sir ? " — " The gauger." — " Lord, Sir,
he dines with us." — " But — but is there any stuff about
the house ? " — " Any ! God alone can tell how much
there is above and under." " If any body told the
gauger, John — ! " " They would only tell him what he
knows already. The gauger : — Lord bless you, Sir,
he never comes or goes without leaving a keg or two
behind him. If the master and he did not pull together
what the devil business would he have here ? Don't
mind, Sir ; we know what we are about : Tiggum
Tigue Thigien ! "*

Midnight. I hope the weather has settled : the moon
looks well, and, as John avers, the sun set favourably

* An Irish proverb, literally meaning "Tim understands Teady."

SPORTING TOPOGRAPHY OF MAYO. 57

There is, however, one solitary scintillating star ; — one !
there are two. Confound the poteen I it is the queerest,
pleasantest, out-o'-the-way drink imaginable ! — and the
gauger told such odd stories, and sang such extraor-
dinary songs ! the sooner I am in bed the better !
What a field the Temperance Society would have here
for their exertions ! Well, if I rise without a headache,
I'll immortalise the man who first invented distillation.

We start under favourable auspices ; a sweet, steady
westerly wind is blowing, clouds and sunshine alternately
prevail, the river should be in good order, and we
anticipate that this will be a killing day.

We have determined to fish the sister stream ; the
waters of Goolamore unite in the same estuary with
those of our own river, and yet the fish vary with regard
to season as much as if they inhabited waters a thousand
miles apart. In Goolamore throughout the whole
year, white* salmon are found in high condition ; in
Aughniss, from October till April, the fish are red,
spent, and worthless. In size, in character, the streams
are much alike : they unite in their debouchement
in the sea, and flow, but a few miles asunder, through
a flat and moory country. That the fish of these sister
streams should differ so much is surprising, and can
only be attributed to one circumstance : Aughniss is
a union of mountain streams, Goolamore flows from an
extensive lake, and affords an outlet to the waters of
Carramore. Judging, therefore, from the constant
supply of white fish which Goolamore yields all through

* By the simple appellation of white and red fish, the peasantry
distinguish Salmon when in and out of season. Indeed, the colour
is such a perfect indicative of health and disease, that any person
who has frequented a salmon river will, on seeing a fish rise, be enabled
to tell with accuracy the state of his condition.

58 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

the year, one would conclude that the lake offers better
food and winterage to the salmon than the shallower
and colder waters of Aughniss.

Our expectations were fully realised, and we found
the pools in excellent order. Independently of a west
wind being a favourite point for the angler — in these
rivers it blows against the current of the stream, and
consequently increases the ruffle on the surface of the
water, which in salmon fishing is so favourable. My
cousin, who is perfectly acquainted with the local haunts
of the salmon, placed me where I seldom failed to rise
or hook a fish. What splendid angling this wild country
offers ! It spoils one in after life, however, The man
who has held a salmon on his line disrelishes the inferior
amusements of the craft ; the fox-hunter will seldom
condescend to ride to beagles ; the deer-stalker will
not waste time and powder in a rabbit-warren ; and the
disciple of Izaac who has once indulged in the exquisite
delight of salmon fishing will feel little satisfaction
in the commoner pursuits and lesser pleasures of the
gentle art.

We landed five salmon, besides taking a pannier full
of sea-trout. Had I been an adept, or better appointed
than I was, we might have killed double the number
of salmon. My flies were unluckily tied on London
hooks, and from their defective quality and formation
several fish escaped me. Repeated failures caused me
to examine the hooks, and I ascertained that they were
both ill-shapen and badly tempered. My cousin had
warned me against the consequences of using them,
but I believed that he was prejudiced, and concluded
that this department of my London outfit must be
unobjectionable. The event, however, proved that I

SPORTING TOPOGRAPHY OF MAYO. 59

was deceived. My kinsman rarely lost a salmon, and
mine broke from me continually. I find by sad experi-
ence that in hook-making the Irish are far before us ;
our workmen either do not understand the method
of forming and tempering hooks, or they do not take
sufficient pains in their manufactory. It is strange
when so much of the angler's pleasure and success
depends upon the quality of his hooks, that more
attention is not bestowed upon their fabrication. The
art of forming and the process of tempering them
appears simple enough ; and that little difficulty is
required to attain it is evident from the fact, that many
fishermen make their own hooks. For my own part,
however, I consider hook-making to be an unnecessary
accomplishment for the angler, as the best hooks in the
world can be procured without trouble, and at a trifling
expense, from O'Shaughnessy of Limerick.

60 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER X.

To those unacquainted with the method of taking
salmon, a brief detail may not be uninteresting : pre-
mising that in other fisheries different means are
employed, yet the simplest and general method is that
used at Aughniss.

About March fly-fishing commences, and a strong
and active spring fish will then frequently be killed,
if the river is sufficiently supplied with water, and the
wind brisk and westerly. As the season advances the
fishing materially improves ; and from the month of
April, salmon, in the highest condition, with red and
white trout, will rise here freely at the fly.

In June, however, the regular fishing with nets
commences, and then the wear is raised to stop the
passage of the fish, and the river water vented through
a small aperture provided with a trap, or as it is techni-
cally called, a box. By these traps and artificial canals,
in other fisheries the salmon are principally taken ; but
here, except some straggling fish, the box produces
little.

The fishing is confined to the estuary, where the river
meets the sea. Here, according to naturalists, the
salmon undergo a probationary course before they
exchange the salt for the fresh water, as a sudden change
from either would be fatal to the fish, and a temporary
sojourn in water of an intermediate quality (brackish)
is supposed to be requisite before they can leave either
the ocean or the river.

SALMON FISHING DESCRIBED. 6 1

The draughting is carried on at the last quarter of
the ebb, and during the first of flood — five or six boats,
with as many men in each, are necessary. When the
salmon are seen, the nearest boat starts off, leaving a man
on shore, with a rope attached to one extremity of the
net, which is rapidly thrown over, as the boat makes an
extensive circle round the place where the fish is sup-
posed to lie. Returning to the shore, the curve of the
net is gradually decreased. Stones are flung in at each
extremity, to prevent the salmon from escaping ; the
net reaches the bank, the semi-circle is complete, and
all within effectually secured. The fish are then care-
fully landed, and at a single draught five hundred salmon
have been taken. This is, however, an event of rare
occurrence, and unless the net were powerfully strong,
and the fishers skilful, a fracture, and consequently
a general escape, would be inevitable.

The fishing here is exceedingly precarious. If the
season be favourable from the ist of July to the I2th
of August, the daily average would be probably five
hundred salmon, exclusive of an immense quantity of
white trout. But success depends entirely upon the
weather. Should the season prove rainy or tem-
pestuous, the salmon directly leave the estuary, and
remain at sea until the water clears and the storm abates ;
and the time allowed by law often expires before a
moiety of the fish can be secured.

It is extraordinary how much the flavour and quality
of the salmon depend on circumstances apparently
of trifling moment. A single day in the river will
injure and a flood spoil their condition ; and the
difference between a fish taken in the nets and one
killed with the rod will be easily perceptible.

62 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

Although in this water angling may be considered
as ending in September, yet, through the succeeding
months till spring, the fish rise freely at a fly. But the
sport is very indifferent compared with summer angling ;
the salmon now has lost his energy ; he struggles
laboriously to get away, but his play is different from
the gallant resistance he would have offered had you
hooked him in July. I have landed and turned out
again as many as nine salmon in one day, and their
united exertions did not afford me half the amusement
I have received from the conquest of one sprightly
summer fish. Salmon appear to lose beauty and energy
together. They are now reddish, dull, dark-spotted,
perch-coloured fish, and seem a different species from
the sparkling silvery creature we saw them when they
first left the sea. As an esculent, they are utterly
worthless — soft, flabby and flavourless, if brought to
table ; and, instead of the delicate pink hue they
exhibited when in condition, they present a sickly,
unhealthy, white appearance, that betrays how complete
the change is that they have recently undergone.

And yet at this period they suffer mostly from night-
fishers. This species of poaching* is as difficult to
detect as it is ruinous in its consequences. It is believed
that the destruction of a few breeding fish may cost the
proprietor one thousand ; such being the astonishing
fecundity of the pregnant salmon !

Night fishing is carried on when the river is low,
and the night moonless. The poacher, with a gaff and

* " "When I made the tour of that hospitable kingdom in 1754, it
(the Coleraine fishery) was rented by a neighbouring gentleman for
£620 a year, who assured me that the tenant, his predecessor, gave
for it £1,600 per annum — and that he was a greater gainer by the
bargain, on account of the number of poachers who destroy the fish
during the fence month." — Pennant.

SALMON FISHING DESCRIBED. 63

torch, selects some gravelly ford — for there, by a law
of nature, the salmon resort to form beds in the stream,
wherein to deposit their ova ; and they continue working
on the sand, until they are discovered by the torch-
light, and gaffed by the plunderer. Hundreds of the
breeding fish are annually thus destroyed ; and although
the greater fisheries may be tolerably protected, it is
impossible to secure the mountain streams from depre-
dation. If detected, the legal penalty upon poaching
is trifling ; and, as appeals on very frivolous grounds
are allowed from the summary convictions of magis-
trates, it too frequently happens that delinquents evade
the punitory consequences attendant on discovery.

Here, too, the evils of private distillation may be
traced ; for most of the depredations committed upon
the salmon are effected by persons concerned in this
demoralising trade. They are up all night attending
to the still. The watch kept against the revenue police
enables them to ascertain when the bargers are away,
and the river consequently unguarded. A light is
snatched from the still-fire, the hidden fish-spear
speedily produced, and in a very short space of time
an infinite deal of mischief is perpetrated.

I should be inclined to question the accuracy of
weight which Sir Humphry gives his salmon. Fish
of the sizes he describes are rarely met with here, and
out of one thousand taken in the nets, there will not be
ten fish of twenty-five pounds weight.

The average size is from seven to fifteen pounds.
Within thirty years but one monster has been taken ;
he weighed fifty-six pounds. Four years ago one of
forty-eight pounds was caught : but of the thousands
which I have seen taken, I would say I never saw a

64 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

fish weighing more than thirty-five pounds, and not
many reaching even to twenty-five pounds.

The Priest, my neighbour, who lives on the banks
of Goolamore, told me he once killed a salmon of
twenty-seven pounds weight, and that the feat gave him
an infinity of trouble, and occupied three mortal hours.
The Priest fishes with tackle of amazing strength, and
is one of the best practical anglers I have ever met with.
Sir Humphry Davy mentions salmon of twenty-five
and thirty pounds as being commonly taken with a fly.
The largest I ever killed was eighteen pounds four ounces,
and it gave me abundant exercise for an hour. Either
Sir Humphry overrates the weight of Scottish salmon,
or in the rivers he frequented they must be immensely
superior to those found in the Irish waters. In the
Shannon, I believe, the largest fish are found, and I am
inclined to think that even there the capture of salmon
of this unusual magnitude is an event of very rare
occurrence.

Pennant states " that the largest salmon ever known
weighed seventy-four pounds. In September, 1795,
one measuring upwards of four feet from nose to tail,
and three in circumference, weighing within a few
ounces of seventy pounds, was sold at Billingsgate, and
was the largest ever brought there. The Severn salmon
are much inferior as to their bulk, for one taken near
Shrewsbury, in 1757, weighing only thirty-seven pounds,
is recorded in the British Chronologist as exceeding
in length any ever known to be taken in that river, and
being the heaviest except one ever remembered in that
town. They have, in many parts, been caught by
angling, with an artificial fly and other baits, upwards
of forty pounds in weight."

SALMON FISHING DESCRIBED. 65

Passing Grove's shop in Bond Street about a month
agol remarked an immense fish extended in the window ;
I stopped to inquire what its weight might be, and was
informed that it weighed forty-five pounds. It had
been a little too long on its passage from Scotland,
and I should be inclined to say that at best, it was a
coarse-flavoured fish, but in its present state, a most
indifferent one.

The migratory habits of the salmon, and the instinct
with which it periodically revisits its native river, are
curious circumstances in the natural history of this fish.
As the swallow returns annually to its nest, as certainly
the salmon repairs to the same spot in which to deposit
its ova. Many interesting experiments have estab-
lished this fact. M. de Lalande fastened a copper ring
round a salmon's tail, and found that for three successive
seasons it returned to the same place. Dr. Bloch states,
that gold and silver rings have been attached, by Eastern
princes to salmon, to prove that a communication
existed between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian and
Northern seas, and that the experiment succeeded.
Shaw, in his Zoology, mentions that a salmon of seven
pounds and three-quarters was marked with scissors
on the back, fin, and tail, and turned out on the yth of
February, and that it was retaken in March of the
succeeding year, and found to have increased to the
amazing size of seventeen pounds and a half. This
statement, by the by, is at variance with the theory
of Dr. Bloch, who estimates the weight of a five or six
year old salmon at but ten or twelve pounds.

That the salmon should lose condition rapidly on
quitting the sea for the fresh water, may be inferred
from a fact agreed upon by naturalists, that during the

F

66 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

period of spawning, the fish neglects feeding. In this
peculiar habit the salmon, however, is not singular,
for animals of the Phocae tribe, in breeding-time exercise
a similar abstinence. On opening a salmon, at any
season, no food will be discovered, and the contents
of the stomach will be confined to a small quantity of
yellowish fluid and tape- worms, which are generated
there. Sir Humphry Davy believes that occasionally
food may be found. I have seen thousands opened
preparatory to being salted, and I never observed
anything but this fluid and tape-worms. Another
circumstance may be stated as a curious proof of health,
as well as of the period of time the salmon has been
resident in a river. When the fish leaves the sea, and
of course is in its best condition, insects (the Lernaea?
Salmoneae of Linnaeus) will be perceived firmly adhering
to the skin. Immediately on entering the fresh water,
these insects begin to detach themselves from the salmon,
and after a short time they gradually drop off and
disappear.

PREPARATIONS FOR MULLET-FISHING. 67

CHAPTER XI.

EARLY this morning we received intelligence that a
school of mullet had been seen on the preceding evening,
working in a sandy bay some six miles distant from the
Lodge — and as we determined to devote the day to
fishing, the household were soon up on the alert, and a
galley and row-boat were laden with nets, poles and
spars ; half-a-dozen rifles and muskets put on board, and
a stout and numerous crew, we started for the scene of
action.

It was a bright and cheerful day ; the sun sparkled
on the blue water, which, unruffled by a breeze, rose and
fell in the long and gentle undulations which roll in from
the westward when the Atlantic is at rest. While
pulling to the cove, we amused ourselves in shooting
puffins as they passed us, or trying our rifles at a distant
seal, while my kinsman's anecdotes whiled away the
tedium of the voyage.

" Seals are very numerous on the coast, and at this
season a number may be seen any warm day you make an
excursion up the Sound of Achil. We shoot them
occasionally — the skin makes a waterproof covering,
and the fat affords an excellent oil for many domestic
purposes. It is difficult, however, to secure the animal,
for numbers are shot and few gotten. The head is the
only place to strike them, for even when mortally
wounded in the body, they generally manage to escape.
This fact we have ascertained, from finding them dead
on shore many days after they were wounded, and at a
considerable distance from the place where they had

68 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

received the bullet. I shot one last autumn at the
mouth of the river, and a fortnight afterwards he was
taken up in the neighbourhood of Dhuhill. There
could be no doubt as to the identity of the creature,
for on opening him to extract the oil, a rifle ball, such as
I use, of the unusually small size of fifty-four to the
pound, was found lodged in his lungs. Unless when
killed outright, they sink instantly ; and I have seen the
sea dyed with blood, to an extent that proved how
severely the seal had been wounded, but have never
been able to trace him further.

" Formerly, when seal oil and skins were valuable,
some persons on the coast made the pursuit of the
animal a profession. There is one of these persons
living near the Sound, a miserable, dwarfish, red-bearded
wretch, whom you would consider hardly equal to
grapple with a salmon, and yet he secures more seals
than any hunter in the district. His method of effecting
it is singular : he uses neither gun nor spear, but kills
the animal with a short bludgeon loaded at the end
with lead.

" Adjacent to the seal-killer's residence there is a
large rock uncovered at half-tide, and this appears the
most favourite haunt for the animal to bask upon. The
rock is easily approached from the main-land, and on a
sunny day, when the wind favours the attempt, the
hunter, undressed, and armed with his bludgeon,
silently winds among the stones, and steals upon his
sleeping prey. Wary as the creature is, the Red Dwarf
seldom fails in surprising him, and with astonishing
expertness, generally dispatches him with a single blow.

" The number he kills annually proves his extra-
ordinary success. If the first blow fails, an event that

PREPARATIONS FOR MULLET-FISHING. 69

seldom happens, the dwarf is in considerable danger.
When attacked, and especially at such a distance from the
water as renders his escape doubtful, the seal will turn
with amazing ferocity on the assailant. If it be an old
one, in case his first essay is unsuccessful, the dwarf
declines the combat and flies from his irritated enemy ;
but the cubs are taken without much difficulty.

" Last summer I was witness to a curious scene.
Running through the Sound of Achil in my hooker,
at a short distance to leeward I observed several men,
who appeared to be practising a quadrille over the
thafts and gunnels of a row-boat, as they never rested
for a moment, but continued jumping from stem to
stern, and springing from bench to bench. Struck
by the oddity of their proceedings, I eased away the
sheets and ran down upon them — and I was a welcome
ally, as the result proved. It turned out, that having
espied a seal and her cub sleeping on the sand, they had
procured an old musket and rowed over to attack them.
They were partially successful and seized the cub
before it could regain its native element, although the
dam rendered all assistance possible to relieve the young
one. Having placed their prize in the boat, they were
returning, followed by the old seal, who kept rising
beside them, attracted by the cries of the cub — till after
many bootless attempts, their gun at last exploded, the
ball entered the seal's head, and for a moment she
appeared dying. The captors, seizing her by the tail
and fins, with an united exertion, dragged her into the
boat — but this exploit had nearly ended in a tragedy.
Stunned only by the wound, the animal instantly
recovered, and, irritated by pain and maddened by the
cries of her cub, attacked her captors fiercely. Every

yo WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

exertion they could make was necessary to save them
from her tusks, and their oars were too long and clumsy
to enable them to strike her with effect. I came most
opportunely to the rescue, and by driving a carbine
bullet through the seal's brain brought the battle to a
close. Never was the old saw of ' catching a Tartar'
more thoroughly exemplified ; and though we laughed
at their terror-stricken countenances, the deep incisions
made in the oars and gunnels by the tusks of the enraged
animal, showed that gallopading with an angry seal is
anything but pleasure."

Although the mullet are generally first seen here, in
the month of June, from the wetness of this summer the
shoals are later in their appearance than usual. Mullet
are taken in draught -nets like salmon, but on this coast
a different mode of fishing is pursued. The shoals in
hot weather run in with the tide, and after remaining
on the shores and estuaries during flood, they return
with the ebbing water. The following method we
employed in our fishing to-day : — Being provided
with a sufficient quantity of herring-nets and a number
of spars and poles, we selected at low water a sandy
creek for our operations, and commenced erecting a
line of poles across the entrance of the cove. The
nets were then extended along these uprights, and also
secured firmly to the bottom of the spars ; the lower
part of the net is kept upon the bottom by a row of
stones, and the remainder laid flat upon the sands.
Wth the flowing tide the fish pass over the prostrate
net, and run along the estuary : at high water the buoy
ropes are raised and secured to the upright poles — and
with the assistance of a boat the whole is effected in
a few minutes, and a net- work barrier effectually cuts

PREPARATIONS FOR MULLET-FISHING. 71

off the retreat of all within. When the ebb of tide
commences the mullet begin to retire, and when they
discover that their egress is obstructed, their attempts
to effect a passage are both constant and curious — now
running down the nets, trying for a broken mesh by which
to force an aperture — now with a bold spring endea-
vouring to clear the buoy-ropes, and even after repeated
failures, leaping at it again and again. The last effort
is directed to the bottom ; but there the heavy stones
resist every attempt to dislodge them, and, deserted by
the treacherous water, the mullet are left upon the
bare sands.

As hours must elapse from the time the nets are laid
down until the fish can be secured, I left my kinsman
who officiated as chief engineer. Having brought two
brace of greyhounds with us, I set out to course, under
the guidance of a man who joined my cousin on the
Island.

There was a striking air about the stranger, joined
to his wild and haggard look, that at once rivetted my
attention. His clothes were much better than those
of any of the peasantry I had yet seen, and in address
and manner he was far superior to the rest of my cousin's
retainers. He was not above five-and-twenty, his
figure tall, gaunt, sinewy, and almost fleshless — but
his square shoulders and well-knit joints proved him
to be a powerful and active man. I shall never forget
the singular expression of his countenance. It was
settled sorrow bordering on despair ; the hollow cheek,
the sunken, rayless eye, the wandering and suspicious
glance around him, all showed a mind fevered with
apprehension and harrowed by remorse. He shunned
observation, and if my eye met his by accident, he

72 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

instantly looked another way. He was armed with a
new carbine ; and his whole bearing and appearance
were so singular and alarming, that more than once
I wished my kinsman had allotted me some other guide.

My companion was, however, shrewd and intelligent
— and he appeared fond of field sports, and perfectly
conversant with the arcana of shooting and coursing.
He enumerated with the science of a connoisseur the
points, and praised the beauty of a pair of English
dogs I had brought with me ; but told me " the master's
(my kinsman's usual title) would outrun them here"
I differed with him in opinion. Mine were of distin-
guished breeding, the produce of a Swaffham sire,
and compared with my cousin's, appeared descended
from a giant stock. His, certainly, were beautiful
diminutives ; but, as I conceived, very unequal to
compete with animals of such superior strength and size
as mine — yet the result proved how correctly my wild
companion judged.

Our first start was on hard, firm ground — and here
my dog's outstripped my kinsman's, although they
displayed uncommon fleetness. Being hard pressed,
puss crossed a morass and ran into an unsound bog.
Then were my guide's predictions verified. From their
own weight, my dogs sank and floundered in the swamp ,
while my cousin's, topping the surface with apparent
ease, turned and killed the hare, while their larger
companions were struggling through the mire.

On the second start puss left the moor, and took to the
seashore, always a favourite run of island hares.
Rushing headlong through rocks, and running over
pointed pebbles the English dogs were speedily disabled.
But my cousin's, accustomed to the beach, ran with

PREPARATIONS FOR MULLET-FISHING. 73

caution till they cleared the rocks, then, taking advantage
of the open strand, killed without a scratch, while my
unpractised dogs were rendered unserviceable for a
fortnight.

Generally speaking, the large and high-bred English
greyhound is not adapted for Irish coursing. There
he will encounter a soft and difficult surface, instead of
the fine firm downs he has been accustomed to in his
native country. And any plains on which he could
exert his powers and prove his superiority, are, with
few exceptions, in the possession of some pack, and, of
course, preserved as hunting-grounds, and grey-hounds
are rigidly prohibited.

On returning to the estuary where I had left the
fishing-party, I found the tide had fallen, and in a little
time we were enabled to secure the spoil. We had
enclosed upwards of a hundred mullets, weighing from
four to ten pounds each. While embarking our nets
and poles I observed several boats filled with men row
towards us from a distance ; and, after a short recon-
naissance, return to the place from whence they came.
The evening breeze blew fresh, and in our favour ;
the boatmen hoisted a large, square sail ; my kinsman
took the tiller, and with wind and tide along with us,
in an hour we crossed the bay and reached our desti-
nation, accompanied by the tall, melancholy-looking
man, who had been my companion in the island.

We dined sumptuously. The flavour of a mullet,
fresh from the water, neither injured by land-carriage
nor spoiled by exposure to the sun, is exquisite. I
mentioned casually, the noble addition which this
delicious fish must give to my cousin's cuisine. " And
they are so abundant, that I presume you seldom want

74 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

them ? " " The contrary is the case," he replied ;
" a remnant of barbarous usage prevents this wild
population from benefitting by the ample supply which
Providence sends to the shores. Did you remark
several boats approach and reconnoitre us ? "
" Yes, and what of it ? "

" Nothing more than that they came with the laudable
design of relieving us of the produce of our fishery.
The natives believe that there is a prescriptive right
to rob mullet-nets ; and in consequence, none will be
• at the trouble of laying them down, if they have not
a sufficient party to protect the fish when taken. You
remarked the formidable preparations made this
morning ; they were requisite, I assure you, or we
should have returned home as lightly laden as we left
it. Those people are not upon my territory, and I
am on bad terms with their landlord. They would
spoil me of fish without ceremony, and think them-
selves too indulgent in permitting me and my depen-
dents to return with undamaged heads. Last year
they robbed and beat my boatmen cruelly — and on the
next occasion of a mullet chasse, I went in person. They
soon discovered us, and with three boats full of men
came to despoil us. I warned them off — but they were
resolutely bent on mischief. Finding them determined,
I let the leading boat approach within forty yards, and
having them well under my fire, threw in two barrels
loaded with B.B. shot. The effect was decisive, for out of a
dozen marauders who formed the crew, not one escaped
without receiving a fair proportion of the charge. They
put about instantly, and for a fortnight afterwards,
a country quack had full employment in extracting my
double B. I sent a message to their master, for which

PREPARATIONS FOR MULLET-FISHING. 75

he Benched me ; and it cost me a cool hundred before
I got clear of the Honourable Justices. ' A plague
upon all cowards ! ' as honest Jack says."

" But, Julius, who was that wild and melancholy
man to whose guidance you entrusted me in the island ? "

" Oh, Hennessey, my foster-brother ! Poor fellow,
he has been rather unlucky ! "

" Unlucky ? "

" Why, yes — he hit a fellow a little too hard, and
finished him. He is keeping close until the assizes are
over, and then he will have time to settle with the
friends. It would not signify a farthing, had he not
been in two or three scrapes before."

" Has he been always riotous ? "

"Oh, no, quite the contrary. When sober, he is
the civilest creature on earth. No, poor fellow! they
were only two homicides, and an abduction."

" And do you countenance and shelter such a charac-
ter ? "

" What ! abandon my own foster-brother for an accident
or two ? — Pshaw, Frank, you jest. I'll tell you the
particulars another time."

It was late, and we separated.

76 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XII.

IN a country whose surface is covered with numerous
and extensive sheets of water like Mayo, it may be
considered that the angler will find ample occupation.
Independently of salmon and trout fishing, to those
who will employ themselves in killing pike and perch,
the lakes and rivers here offer superior amusement.
In the greater waters, Lough Mask, Lough Carra, and
Lough Conn, the coarser species of fishes are taken in
immense numbers, and in the lesser lakes many interest-
ing varieties of the trout tribe will be found, from the
little speckled samlet to the large and curious gillaroo.
The natural history of the samlet, or par, is very doubtful.
Some assert it to be a mule produced by the salmon
and trout. Others conjecture it to be a hybrid of the
sea and river trout.

The par differs from the small mountain trout in
colour, and in having additional spines in the pectoral
fin. It has also certain olive bluish marks upon the side,
similar to the impressions made by the pressure of a
man's fingers.

Pennant says : — " In all these lakes the gillaroo is
found. It varies in weight from twelve to eighteen
pounds, but sometimes reaches thirty ; " and Daniel
states these fish to be " esteemed for their fine flavour,
which is supposed to exceed that of any other trout.
Their make is similar to the common, except being
thicker in proportion to their length, and of a redder
hue, both before and after being dressed. The gillaroo

FISH FOUND IN MAYO. 77

is remarkable for having a gizzard resembling that of
a large fowl or turkey." He also says : — " It is usual
to dress the gizzards only, which are considered as very
favourite morsels."

It is true that the scientific angler generally confines
himself to the use of the fly, and for salmon and trout
he will forego the commoner department of bait and
float fishing. Hence, angling for pike and perch is
usually an amusement of the peasantry ; and to those
contiguous to the banks of the large lakes, it yields
occupation for idle hours, which might be less inno-
cently dissipated, and occasionally supplies their
families with a welcome addition to their unvarying
food, the potato.

Besides the established system of bait-fishing, other
and more successful methods are resorted to by the
lake-fishers. By mesh-nets immense numbers of pike
are annually taken ; and with night-lines, and a very
simple contrivance called the pooka, these fish, with the
largest trout and perch, are constantly killed.

This latter implement is formed of a piece of flat
board, having a little mast and sail erected on it. Its
use is to carry out the extremity of a long line of con-
siderable stoutness, to which, at regulated distances,
an infinity of droppers or links are suspended, each
armed with a hook and bait. Corks are affixed to the
principal line or back, to keep it buoyant on the surface ;
and from a weather-shore, if there be a tolerable breeze,
any quantity of hooks and baits can be floated easily
across the water. The corks indicate to the fishermen
when a fish is on the dropper, and in a small punt or
curragh, he attends to remove the spoil and renew the
baits when necessary. Two hundred hooks may be

78 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

used on the same line, and the pooka at times affords
much amusement, and often a well-filled pannier.

There are no waters in Great Britain, with the excep-
tion of the River Shannon, where larger pike are caught
than those taken in Loughs Mask and Corrib. It would
appear, that in these lakes the fish are commensurate
to the waters they inhabit. It is no unusual event
for pikes of thirty pounds weight to be sent to their
landlords by the tenants ; and fish of even fifty pounds
have not unfrequently been caught with nets and night-
lines. About seventeen years since, when visiting the late
Marquis of Clanricarde, at Portumna Castle, two gentle-
men brought to the Marquis an immense pike, which
they had just caught in the River Shannon, on the
banks of which they had been taking their evening
walk. Attracted by a noise and splashing of the water
they discovered in a little creek a number of
perch driven on shore, and a fish, which in pursuit
of them, had so entangled himself with the ground as
to have a great part of his body exposed, and out of the
water. They attacked him with an oar, that by accident
lay on the bank, and killed him. Never having seen
any fish of this species so large, they judged it worth
the observation of the marquis, who, equally surprised
at its magnitude, had it weighed, and to our astonishment
it exceeded the balance at ninety -two pounds ; its length
was such that when carried across the oar by the two
gentlemen, who were neither of them short, the head and
tail touched the ground. The trout in those loughs
are also immensely large. From five to fifteen pounds
is no unusual size, and some have been found that have
reached the enormous weight of thirty. The perch
tribe appear the smallest in the scale of relative

FISH FOUND IN MAYO. 79

proportion. These seldom exceed a herring size ; but they,
too, have exceptions, and perch of three or four pounds
weight have been sometimes seen. Within fifty years,
this latter fish has increased prodigiously, and, in the
lakes and rivers where they abound, trout have been
found to diminish in an equal ratio. If any doubt
remained touching the fecundity of the perch, some of
the Mayo waters would prove it satisfactorily. Half
a century since I have been assured that pike and perch
were almost unknown in the rivers of Belcarra and
Minola, and the chain of lakes with which they com-
municate, and that these waters were then second to
none for trout fishing. Within ten years, my cousin
tells me that he often angled in them, and that he
frequently killed from three to six dozen of beautiful
middle-sized red trout. Now, fly-fishing is seldom
practised there. The trout is nearly extinct, and
quantities of pike and perch infest every pool and
stream. The simplest methods of taking fish will be
here found successful, and the lakes of Westmeath will
soon be rivalled by the loughs of Mayo. Mr. Young
mentions that, at Packenham, Lord Longford informed
him, respecting the quantities of fish in the lakes in his
neighbourhood, that the perch were so numerous, that
a child with a pack-thread and a crooked pin would catch
enough in an hour for the daily use of a whole family,
and that his Lordship had seen five hundred children
fishing at the same time ; that, besides perch, the lake
produced pike five feet long, and trout of ten pounds
each.

Of the great Western lakes, Conn and Carra belong
to Mayo ; Corrib to Galway ; and Mask lies between
both counties. The most northerly, Lough Conn,

80 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

is about nine miles long, by two or three in breadth.
Part of its shores are beautifully wooded ; and where
the lower and upper lakes unite, the channel is crossed
by a bridge of one arch, called the Pontoon ; and there
the scenery is indeed magnificent.

Lough Carra is smaller than Conn ; but, as a sheet
of water, nothing can be more beautiful ; and every-
thing that the painter delights to fancy may here be
realised. Islands and peninsulas, with rich, over-
hanging woods, a boundless range of mountain masses
in the distance, and ruins in excellent keeping — all these
form a splendid study for the artist's pencil.

Mask communicates with Carra, and their united
waters discharge themselves into Lough Corrib by a
very curious subterraneous channel at Cong.* Lough
Corrib is largest of all ; it stretches twenty miles to its
southern extremity at Galway, where, through a bold,
rocky river, it discharges its waters into the Atlantic.
Its breadth is very variable, ranging from two to twelve
miles. Besides its singular connection with the Mayo
lakes by the underground channel at Cong, Lough Corrib
produces a rare species of Muscle, in which pearls are
frequently discovered. Many of them are said to
afford beautiful specimens of this valuable gem.

The smaller lakes, which are so profusely scattered
over the surface of this country, vary in the species of
fish which they respectively produce, as much as they
do in their own natural size and character. Some of
them afford trout, others pike only, and many are stocked

* " At Cong, about five miles from Ballinrobe, is a subterranean
cave, to which there is a descent of sixty-three steps, called the
Pigeon Hole ; at the bottom runs a clear stream, in which the trout
are seen sporting in the water ; these fish are never known to take
a bait, but are caught with landing-nets." — Daniel.

FISH FOUND IN MAYO. 8l

with both That this union cannot long subsist, I
should be inclined to infer from one remarkable circum-
stance, and it is a convincing proof of the rapid destruc-
tion which the introduction of pike into a trout lake
will occasion. Within a short distance of Castlebar
there is a small bog-lake, called Derreens ; and ten
years ago it was celebrated for its numerous and well-
sized trout. Accidentally pike effected a passage into
the Lough from the Minola river, and now the trout
are extinct, or, at least, none of them are caught or
seen. Previous to the intrusion of the pike, half-a-dozen
trout would be killed in an evening in Derreens,
whose collective weight often amounted to twenty
pounds.

Indeed, few of the Mayo waters are secure from the
encroachments of the pike. The lakes of Castlebar,
I believe, still retain their ancient character ;* but
I understand that pike have been latterly taken in the
Turlough river, and of course they will soon appear in
a lake which directly communicates with this stream.
The voracity of the pike is strongly exemplified in the
following extract from a Provincial Newspaper. Of
the truth of the occurrence we presume there can be
no reasonable doubt, even in the minds of the most
sceptical ; but we believe there is no instance of animal
ferocity on record which could parallel it, except in
the celebrated case of the Kilkenny cats, whose respec-
tive demolition of each other is as wonderful as authentic.

" A party angling at Sunbury, one of them sat across
the head of the boat, as a punishment inflicted on him for

" In the lake of Castlebar, near that town, is the charr and the
gillaroo trout, and it is remarked that there are no pike in this and
some of the adjacent lakes." — Daniel.

Q

82 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

wearing his spurs. Another, having caught a gudgeon,
stuck it on one of the spurs, which he (the delinquent
in the bow) not perceiving, in a few minutes a large
jack bit at the gudgeon, and the spur being crane-necked,
entangled in the gills of the jack, which, in attempting
to extricate himself, actually pulled the unfortunate
person out of the boat. He was with difficulty dragged
on shore, and the fish taken, which was of prodigious
'size."

Now, after this cautionary notice of ours, we do
assert that any gentleman who goes to fish in crane-
necks, and disposes of his legs overboard, with a gudgeon
on the rowel, is not exactly the person on whose life,
were we agent to a company, we should feel justified
in effecting a policy of insurance.

GROUSE SHOOTING. 83

CHAPTER XIII.

THE nineteenth of August, that busy day of preparation
with Irish sportsmen, came at last. An unusual com-
motion was evident among my kinsman's household,
and there was a wondrous packing-up of camp-beds,
culinary utensils, baskets and bottles, arms and ammuni-
tion— in short, of every necessary article for the support
and destruction of life. At dawn of day four horses
set off heavily laden ; shortly after, a second division of
dogs and guns moved under a careful escort ; the
" otter-hunter " hobbled off while I was dressing ; and
the piper, the lightest-laden of all concerned, closed the
rear. After breakfast, two ponies were brought to the
door, and, with a mounted attendant to carry our
cloaks, my cousin and I pursued the same route that the
baggage had already taken.

Talk not of India ! Its boasted gang of servants is
far surpassed by the eternal troop of followers apper-
taining to an Irish establishment. Old John tells me
that sixteen regulars sit down to dinner in the servants'
hall, and that, at least, an equal number of supernume-
raries are daily provided for besides. When I hinted
to my cousin the expense that must attend the sup-
porting of this idle and useless multitude, his reply was
so Irish. " Pshaw ! hang it ! — sure they have no wages,
and what the devil signifies all they eat? My father,
before the landing of the Paul Jones, fed two hundred
men for a fortnight, and used to declare that never
were there such plentiful times. It killed the cook,
however, poor woman ! she was literally broiled into
a pleurisy — but such a wake as she had ! I remember

84 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

it as if it occurred but yesterday. She was carried
to the old grave- yard of Bunmore the very evening the
Paul Jones landed her cargo, and although five hundred
men left the house with the corpse, the cook remained
over-ground till the following morning, for want of
sufficient persons to fill the grave. The fact was, that
just as the funeral reached the church- yard, the lugger
was suddenly discovered rounding the Black Rock.
Instantly the mourners absconded, the bearers threw
down the body — the priest, who was deeply con-
cerned in the cargo, was the first to fly ; — and the
defunct cook was left accordingly in peaceable posses-
sion of Bunmore."

To arrive at our mountain-quarters we were obliged
to cross the river repeatedly. When swollen with rain
the stream is impassable, and the communication
between the hill country and the lowlands interrupted,
until the flood abates. At one of the fords, my kinsman
pointed out a little cairn, or heap of stones, erected on
the summit of a hillock which overhung the passage
we were crossing. It is placed there to commemorate
the drowning of a shepherd, and, as an incident in humble
life, it struck me as being particularly affecting.

" In 1822, when the western part of Ireland was
afflicted with grievous famine, and when England
stepped forward nobly, and poured forth her thousands
to save those who were perishing for want, a depot
of provisions was established on the sea-coast for the
relief of the suffering inhabitants of this remote district.

" A solitary family, who had been driven from their
lowland home by the severity of the relentless middle-
man, had settled themselves in this wild valley, and
erected the clay walls of that ruined hut before you,

GROUSE SHOOTING. 85

The man was shepherd to a farmer who kept cattle on
these mountains. Here, in this savage retreat, he
lived removed from the world, for the nearest cabin
to this spot is more than four miles distant.

" It may be supposed that the general distress afflicted
this isolated family. The welcome news of the arrival
of succours at Ballycroy at length reached them, and the
herdsman set out to procure some of the committee-meal
to relieve the hunger of his half-starved family.

" On arriving at the depot, the stock of meal was
nearly expended : however, he obtained a temporary
supply, and was comforted with the assurance that a
large quantity was hourly expected.

" Anxious to bring the means of sustenance to his
suffering little ones, the herdsman crossed the mountain
with his precious burden, and reached that hillock
where the stones are loosely piled.

" But during his absence at Ballycroy the rain had
fallen heavily in the hills ; the river was no longer
fordable ; a furious torrent of discoloured water rushed
from the heights, and choked the narrow channel. There
stood the returning parent, within twenty paces of
his wretched but dearly loved hovel. The children,
with a cry of delight, rushed from the hut to the opposite
bank to welcome him ; but, terrified by the fearful
appearance of the flood, his wife entreated him not
to attempt its passage for the present.

" But would he, a powerful and experienced swimmer,
be deterred ? The eager and hungry looks of his
expecting family maddened the unhappy father. He
threw aside his clothes, bound them with the meal upon
his back, crossed himself devoutly, and, ' in the name of
God,' committed himself to the swollen river.

86 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

" For a moment he breasted the torrent gallantly —
two strokes more would bring him to the bank — when
the treacherous load turned, caught him round the neck,
swept him down the stream, sank, and drowned him.
He struggled hard for life. His wife and children
followed the unhappy man as he was borne away — and
their agonising shrieks told him, poor wretch ! that
assistance from them was hopeless. At last the body
disappeared, and was taken up the following morning
four miles from this fatal place. One curious circum-
stance attended this calamity : to philosophers I leave
its elucidation, while I pledge myself for its accuracy
in point of fact. A herd of cattle galloped madly down
the river-side at the time their unfortunate keeper
was perishing ; their bellowings were heard for miles,
and they were discovered next morning, grouped
around the body of the dead shepherd, in the corner of
a sandy cove, where there the abated flood had left it."

Every one shoots grouse ; the operation is so common-
place that none but a cockney would find novelty
in its detail, Our morning's sport was excellent. The
dogs were in good working condition, and under perfect
command ; but at noon the breeze died away, the day
became oppressively hot, and the biting of gnats and
horse-flies intolerable. Not being exterminators, we
ceased shooting at three o'clock, and returned to our
cabin with two-and-twenty brace of birds.

The particulars of the evening compotation I shall
be excused in passing over. I must allow that the
portion of wine allotted to sportsmen by the Author of
Salmonia was awfully exceeded. We anointed our
faces with cold cream, which speedily removed the pain
and inflammation consequent on the stinging we had

GROUSE SHOOTING. 87

endured from the insects, and, after " blowing a com-
fortable cloud," went to bed and slept ; but a man
must exercise and carouse with a grouse-shooter, to
conceive the deep and delicious repose which attends the
sportsman's pillow.

This morning we were early astir. There was a
mutual admission of slight headache, but coffee and fresh
air will soon remove it. Having finished breakfast, and,
in spite of Sir Humphry's denunciations, fortified our-
selves against damp feet with a glass of Mareschino
we left the cabin for the moors.

Never was there a wilder spot than the dell in which
we have taken up our shooting quarters. It is a herds-
man's hovel, to which my kinsman has added an apart-
ment for his accommodation in the grouse season.
This is our banquet-room and dormitory ; a press in
the corner contains our various drinkables, and upon a
host of pegs, stuck into the interstices of the masonry,
hang guns and belts, and all the unmentionable appa-
ratus of a sportsman. The cabin itself is appropriated
to culinary purposes and to the accommodation of our
dogs and personal attendants. The quadrupeds are
quartered in the farther extremity of the house, and,
after their fatigue, luxuriate gloriously upon a fresh
bed of sun-dried fern.

In a calliogh* beside the fire, the keeper and old

* " Callioghs " are recesses built in the side walls of an Irish cabin,
convenient to the hearth, and sufficiently large to contain a bed.
Some of them are quite open to the fire ; while others are partially
screened from view by a rude matting of bent or straw.

If you enter a peasant's hovel on a wet day, and inquire for the
owner of the house, a strapping boy will generally roll out of one of
these dark cribs, yawn, stretch his arms, scratch his head, and bid
" your honour " welcome, and then inform you that he " was just
strichiri on the bed."

88 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

John, who officiates as cook, are deposited at night,
while the otter-hunter and piper canton themselves in
the opposite den. A detachment of boys, or irregulars,
who have followed the master to the mountains, bivouac
somewhere in the vicinity of the cabin. In a sod -walled
sheeling erected against a huge rock, the herdsman and
his family have taken up their temporary residence,
while we occupy the hut ; but its limited dimensions
would be quite unequal to shelter a moiety of our
extensive train. But while a mountain sheep hangs
from " the couples "* of the cabin, and the whisky-
keg continues unexhausted, those worthies matter little
in what cranny they ensconce themselves at night.
To a late hour the piper is in requisition, and these
careless devils dance, and laugh, and sing, until my
cousin's mandate scatters them like ghosts at cock-
crow ; off they scamper, and where they bestow them-
selves till morning, none but themselves can tell.
Although the quantity of whisky consumed here, in
the short space of three days, appears almost incredible ;
yet upon these seasoned vessels its effects are so very
transitory as almost to authenticate the boasted virtues
of the mountain-dew — " that there is not an aching
head in a hogshead full ! "

While traversing a low range of moors an incident
occurred which at this season was unaccountable. A
red and white setter pointed at the top of a little glen.
The heathy banks on both sides of a mountain rivulet
undulated gently from the stream, and caused a dipping
of the surface ; and the ground seemed a favourable

* The couples are the principal timbers that support the roof ;
they are placed at stated distances, and an Irishman describes tke
size of a house by telling you that it has so many " couples."

GROUSE SHOOTING. 89

haunt for grouse, and our dogs were beating it with
care. Observing the setter drop, his companions
backed and remained steady, when suddenly Hero
rose from his cou chant attitude, and next moment a
wild deer, of enormous size and splendid beauty, crossed
before the dog and sprang the birds he had been pointing.
The apparition of the animal, so little expected, and so
singularly and closely introduced to our view, occasioned
a sensation I had never hitherto experienced. I rushed
up the bank, while, unembarrassed by our presence,
the noble deer swept past us in a light and graceful
canter, at the short distance of some seventy or eighty
yards. I might have fired at and annoyed him — but
on a creature so powerful small shot could have pro-
duced little effect, and none but a Cockney, under
similar circumstances, would waste a charge ; and to
tease, without a chance of bringing down the gallant
beast, would have been a species of useless mischief,
meriting a full month upon the tread-mill. I gazed
after him as he gradually increased his distance ; his
antlers were expanded as fully as my arms would extend ;
his height was magnificent ; and, compared with fallow-
deer, he seemed a giant to a dwarf. The sun beamed
upon his deep bay side, as he continued describing
a circular course over the flat surface of the moor, till
reaching a rocky opening leading to the upper hills,
he plunged into the ravine, and we lost sight of him.

What could have driven the red deer so low upon the
heath was marvellous. Excepting when disturbed by
a solitary hunter, or a herdsman in pursuit of errant
cattle, or driven from the summit of the hills by snow
and storm, those deer are rarely seen below the Alpine
heights they inhabit. But the leisure pace of the

90 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

beautiful animal we saw to-day proved that he had not
been alarmed in his lair, and led one almost to fancy
that in freakish mood he had abandoned his mountain
home to take a passing glance of the men and things
beneath him.

At five o'clock we left the moors, and returned to our
cabin. The day throughout had been propitious ;
the breeze tempered the heat which yesterday oppressed
us, and our walk this morning had been only pleasant
exercise. We were neither exhausted by an ardent
sky, nor annoyed by the dazzling glare of constant
sunshine. The gnats, which lately had been intoler-
able, had vanished, and we were thus enabled to perform
our ablutions in the clear and sparkling river ; a feat
last night impracticable, from the number and virulence
of the insects. He who has bathed his limbs in the cool
and crystal waters of a mountain stream after a busy day
upon the heath can only estimate its luxury. Twenty
brace of grouse, three hares, and a half-score of gray
plovers, was the produce of our chasse.

THE OTTER-HUNTER S HISTORY. 9 1

CHAPTER XIV.

THE moon rose in great splendour over the bold chain
of mountains which belts the valley where we are
cantoned. The piper is merrily at work, for some of
the peasant girls have come to visit us, attracted by the
joyful news that a pieberagh* was included in our suite.
The fondness of these mountain maidens for dancing
is incredible ; at times of festival, on the occasion of a
wedding, or dragging-homeft or whenever a travelling
musician passes through these wilds, they assemble
from prodigious distances, and dance for days and
nights together.

My kinsman and I having duly executed a jig with
a brace of Nora Crinas, left the hut and strolled a short
way up the river. The quiet of " lonely night " con-
trasted strikingly with the scene of turbulent and vivacious
mirth we had but just quitted. A jutting bank suddenly
shut the cabin from our view, and its lights and music
ceased to be seen or heard. A deep, unbroken silence
reigned around. The moon's disc appeared of unusual
size, as she rose in cloudless majesty over the mountain
masses which earlier in the evening had concealed her.
Not a cloud was in the sky, and the unequal outline of
the hills displayed a fine picture of light and shadow
— and the stream rippled at our feet, as, " tipped with
silver," we traced its wanderings for miles, while its
sparkling current was lost or seen among the moor-land.

* Anglice, piper.

f " Dragging home " is the bringing the bride for the first time to
her husband's house. An immense mob of relatives and clevines
of " both the houses." are collected on the occasion, and as an awful
quantity of whisky must of necessity be distributed to the company,
this " high solemnity " seldom concludes without subjecting the
host's person and property to demolition.

92 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

Just then a human figure turned the rock abruptly,
and the old otter-killer stood beside us. The rushing
of the stream prevented us from noticing his approach.
He had been examining his traps, and as the way was
rugged, he was delayed till now. The old man's appear-
ance in this place, and at that hour, was picturesque.
His dark dress, his long, white hair, falling down his
shoulders, the seal-skin wallet, the fish-spear, and the
rough terrier, his companion, all were in perfect keeping.

" Well, Antony, what sport ? "

" Little to speak of, Master Julius. I suspect the
trap wants oiling, for there was an otter's spraints*
every place about it. I went to the lake yonder, and
while the breeze kept up the fish took well. I killed
a dozen red trout."

" Did you meet any of the ' gentlefolk,'-^ friend
Antony ? This is just the night that one would expect
to find them quadrilling upon some green and mossy
hillock."

The old man smiled and turned to me, —

" Well, well, the master won't believe in them ; but
if he had seen them as I did — "

" And did you really see them ? "

" God knows, I tell you truth, Sir." Then, resting
himself on a rock, he thus continued : —

" It will be eleven years next month, when I was
hunting otters at Lough na Mucka ; — the master knows
the place, for many a good grouse he shot beside it. I
then had the two best farriers beneath the canopy ;
this poor crater is their daughter," and he patted the
dog's head affectionately. — " Well, I had killed two

* Marks or traces left by the animal. f Fairies.

THE OTTER-HUNTER'S HISTORY. 93

well-sized cubs, when Badger, who had been working
in the weeds, put out the largest bitch I ever saw ; I
fired at her, but she was too far from me, and away she
went across the Lough, and Badger and Venom after
her. She rose at last ; Badger gripped her, and down
went dog and otter. They remained so long under water
that I was greatly afraid the dog was drowned ; but,
after a while, up came Badger. Though I was right glad
to see my dog, I did not like to lose the beast ; and I
knew, from the way that Badger's jaws were torn, that
there had been a wicked struggle at the bottom. Well, I
encouraged the dog, and when he had got his breath
again, he dived down, nothing daunted, for he was the
best tarrier ever poor man was master of. Long as he
had been before at the bottom, he was twice longer now.
The surface bubbled, the mud rose, and the water
became black as ink : ' Ogh ! murder,' says I, ' Badger,
have I lost ye ? ' and I set-to clapping my hands for
trouble, and Venom set up the howl as if her heart was
broke. When, blessed be the Maker of all ! up comes
Badger with the otter gripped by the neck. The bitch
swam over to help him, and I waded to the middle,
and speared and landed the beast. Well, then I examined
her, she had her mouth full of ould roots and moss,
for she had fastened on a stump at the bottom, and the
poor dog was sorely put-to to make her break her hold.
I mind it well : I sold the skin in Gal way, and got a
gold guinea for it."

" Was that the night you met the fairies ? "
" Stay, Master Julius ; I'm coming to that. Well
three otters were a heavy load, and I had four miles
to travel before I could reach Morteein Crassagh's,*
* Martin with the rough face,

94

WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

The master knows the house well. The night was
getting dark, and it's the worst ground in Connaught.
Well, I was within a mile of Morteein's, when it became
as black as pitch ; and I had the shaking bog to cross,
that you can hardly pass in daytime, where, if a man
missed his way, he would be swallowed up in a moment.
The rain began, and the poor dogs were famished with
cold and hunger. God ! I was sure I must stay there,
starving till the morning ; when, on a sudden, little
lights danced before me, and showed me the hard
tammocks as plain as if the sun was up. I was in a
cruel fright, and the dogs whimpered, and would not
stir from my foot. I was afraid to stay where I was,
as I knew the gentle-people were about me ; and I was
unwilling to attempt the quagh,* for fear the light
would leave me, and then I would get neither back nor
forward. Well, the wind began to rise ; the rain grew
worse ; I got desperate, and resolved to speak to the
fairies civilly. ' Gentlemen and ladies,' says I, making
a bow to the place where the lights were dancing,
' may be ye would be so obliging as to light me across
the bog.' In a minute there was a blaze from one end
of the quagh to the other, and a hundred lights were
flashing over the bogs. I took heart and ventured ;
and wherever I put my foot, the place was as bright as
day, and I crossed the swamp as safely as if I had been
walking on a gravelled road. Every inch the light came
with me, till I reached the boreein\ leading to Morteein
Crassagh's ; then, turning about, I made the fairies a
low bow : ' Gentlemen and ladies,' says I, ' I'm humbly
thankful for your civility, and I wish ye now a merry
night of it.' God preserve us ! The words were hardly

* A morass. f A horsepath leading into bogs.

THE OTTER-HUNTER'S HISTORY. 95

out when there was a roar of laughter above, below and
around me. The lights vanished, and it became at once
so dark that I could scarcely make out my way. When
I got fairly inside Morteein's kitchen, I fainted dead ;
and when I came to, I told them what had happened.
Many a time fairy candles are seen at Lough na Mucka ;
but sorrow mortal was ever lighted across the quagh
by the gentle-people but myself, and that the country
knows. Well — the master is laughing at me ; but I'll
hobble to the cabin, or they'll think that the gentle people
have carried me off at last, as they did Shamus Bollogh,*
from Ballycroy."

This gentleman's temporary sojourn with the fairies
is generally credited in Ballycroy. Why the gentle-
folk, who are accounted scrupulous in selecting
youth and beauty when they abduct mortals, should
have pitched upon Shamus, is unaccountable. His
charms are of the plainest order, and he had long passed
his teens before the period of his being carried away.
His own account of the transaction is but a confused
one — and all I recollect of the particulars is, that he
crossed to Tallaghan, over an arm of the sea, on a grey
horse, behind a little man dressed in green. Neither
good nor evil resulted from this nocturnal gallop of
" the Stutterer," if we except a sound horse-whipping
which he received from the priest, for attempting to
abuse the credulity of the peasantry, by detailing the
fairy revels in which he alleged that he participated.

Presently we returned to the hut : the whisky had

began to operate on the corps de ballet in the kitchen,

for the pipes played louder, and the girls danced with

additional esprit. To think of bed, with such a company

* James the Stutterer.

96 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

beside us, would be idle : my cousin accordingly
recharged his meerschaum, and, between many a puff,
gave me the following memoir of the otter-hunter : —

" The old man is a character. In his early days he
was a travelling pedlar, a dealer in furs and Connemara
stockings. He had always an unconquerable fancy
for angling and otter-killing ; and, with a pack upon his
shoulders and a fishing-spear in his hand, he traversed
the kingdom in the double pursuit of pleasure and profit.

" When he disposed of his merchandise, he returned
home laden with the skins he had collected in his
wanderings. He has frequently brought thirty furs
together to Limerick for sale ; and as they were then
a valuable commodity, he acquired, in a few years, a
considerable property.

" In one of his excursions, however, Antony managed
to pick up a wife. She was young and handsome ;
and, tiring of his unsettled life, persuaded the unhappy
otter-killer to forego his favourite calling, and turn his
fish-spear into a spigot. In short, he took a house in
town, became a publican, got extensive business, gave
credit, and soon was drunken and embarrassed ; his
wife flirted, his property melted away, and his frail
rib at last levanted with an English showman. Antony
was astounded, but he bore misfortune like a philo-
sopher. Renouncing whisky, except in limited quan-
tities, he resumed the otter-trap, which had been rusting
in a garret ; and, one fine moonlight night, turned the
key in the door, abandoned goods and chattels to the
landlord, and disappeared, ' leaving his curse with
Limerick.'

" No Bedouin returned from captivity to his parent's
tent — no Swiss revisited his native valley with more

THE OTTER-HUNTER'S HISTORY. 97

delight than the cornuted otter-killer, when he hurried
back to his beloved mountains. From that moment he
forswore the town ; and excepting on his annual visit
to the furrier, Antony has avoided the busier haunts
of mankind. Having added bleeding to the number of
his acquirements, he practises pharmacy in this wilder-
ness, and for forty years has led a careless, migratory
life, tolerated in the hall, and welcomed in the cabin,
until increasing years and bodily infirmity confined
him to his wild birth-place, where the otter can be
trapped without fatigue, and the salmon will yet reward
the old man's skill. The Lodge is now Antony's
headquarters, and the remnant of his wandering life
will probably be spent with me.

" But it is not as a hunter and leech that the ancient
otter-killer is alone valuable. In his wanderings he
picked up tales and traditions among the wild people
he consorted with ; his memory is most tenacious,
and he narrates strange legends which, in wildness and
imagination, rival the romances of the East. In winter,
when the snow falls and the fury of the storm is unloosed,
Antony is settled in his rude but comfortable chair,
formed of twisted bent. The women of my household
listen to his love-stories with affected indifference, but
there is always some apology for remaining near the
otter-killer. At times, when the old man is summoned after
dinner to receive his customary glass, I, if I be ' fthe
humour' listen to his wild legends ; and here, in this
mountain hut, seated in this room, ' mine own great
chamber,' while I luxuriate over a bright bog-deal fire,
an exquisite cigar, and an admixture of pure Hollands
with the crystal water that falls from the rock behind
us, I listen in voluptuous tranquillity to Antony's

H

98 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

romances, as he recites to his attentive auditory in the
kitchen his narratives of former times.

" If the otter-hunter's tales be true, the primitive
gentlewomen of the Emerald Isle were no vestals ; and
the judge of the Consistorial Court, had such then
existed, would have had scarcely time to bless himself."

It was twelve o'clock, and no abatement of revelry
was yet manifest among the dancers in the kitchen.
The piper's music appeared inexhaustible, and, maugre
fatigue and whisky, the company were as fresh and
effective as when the ball commenced. " I must rout
them," said my cousin ; " the devils would dance till
doomsday." He opened the door, but stopped and
beckoned me to approach. I looked out ; the boys
and girls had left the floor, the men settling themselves
on the colliaghs, empty casks, and turf cleaves* while
the ladies were comfortably accommodated upon their
partners' knees. One gentleman alone was standing.
Presently two sticks were laid crosswise on the ground ;
the pipes struck up an unusual sort of jig, and the feat
commenced. " This," said my kinsman, " is called
the ' pater-o-pee,' and none but an accomplished dancer
would attempt it."

To describe this dance would be impossible : it con-
sisted of an eternal hopping into the small compart-
ments formed by the crossing of the cudgels on the floor,
without touching the sticks.

Now, holding reasonable doubts whether, upon Mr.
Cooney presenting himself to Monsieur Laporte, this
gentleman would favour him with an engagement, I'll
bet the manager, notwithstanding, a cool hundred, that,
on the strength of the King's Theatre, he has no artiste
who will touch Tim Cooney at the pater-o-pee I
* Anglice, baskets.

RED DEER. 99

CHAPTER XV.

How rapidly the waters of a mountain river swell
and subside ! Last night the steep bank before the
cabin door was scarcely visible above the swollen and
discoloured stream. The flood is gone ; the river
has recovered its silvery hue, and no traces of yesterday's
violence appear, save the huge masses of turf left by the
receding waters on the shore, which, from their size,
prove how fierce the torrent was when at its height.

We have been expecting anxiously a messenger with
the post-bag, for three days have elapsed since its last
arrival. There will be an accumulation of newspapers.
What a treasure they would have been yesterday ! Ha !
there is a bustle in the outer cabin ; no doubt an arrival.
It is the messenger.

I never saw finer samples of the mountain peasantry
than this man and his brother exhibit. They are
scarcely to be known asunder ; young, particularly
handsome, five feet eleven inches, light, active, clean-
limbed, perfect specimens of strength and symmetry
combined ; good-humoured, indefatigable, and obliging,
submissive to the Master's nod, and yet the boldest and
handiest boys in Ballycroy. I sometimes look after
my kinsman as he strides over the moors with his hand-
some henchmen at his back. He walks as if the province
was his own ; bold, and careless, and confident — no
wonder — those wild fellows are his fosterers, and they
would shed the last drop of their blood for " the Master,"
if he required it.

IOO WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

This fidelity and devotion on the one side is requited
by kindness and protection on the other. These men
have lived about the Lodge from boyhood — and they
come and depart as they please. At spring and harvest-
times they repair to the village where their parents
reside, to assist the old couple and the girls in getting
the potatoes in and out of the ground ; they tend the
cattle in the mountains when requisite, and pass the
remainder of the year following the Master to the moors
or to the river, catching fish, netting rabbits, or killing
wild-fowl in the winter ; and dancing, drinking, and
fighting on holidays and festivals, as becomes good men
and loyal subjects.

When they marry — for Malthus and restrictions upon
population are no more recognised in Erris than the Pope
is by a modern Methodist — they will obtain a patch of
mountain from their patron, erect a cabin, construct
a still, and setting political dogmas at defiance, then and
there produce most excellent whisky, and add to the
" seven millions " considerably.

The messenger presented himself with the post-bag,
being anxious to render a personal account of the causes
of his delay. His night's adventure is quite character-
istic of the wild life and bold and reckless spirit of these
mountain peasants.

The route to the next post-town lie* through the ridge
of hills which I have already described, as bounding the
valley where we are quartered. The usual way to reach
it is by an old and rugged horse-path, which, although
seldom frequented now, was fifty years since the only
means of communication which Erris had with the
southern baronies. This easier but more circuitous
route was abandoned by the young peasant, who hoped

RED DEER. IOI

by directly crossing the heights, to arrive at the cabin
before the night shut in. He took this perilous direc-
tion accordingly ; but the rain was still falling fast,
and when he topped the ridge of the hills, the valley
beneath was covered by a dense mist. Presently the
mountain streams rose, the light failed — to advance or
retreat was impossible ; and the isolated peasant had no
choice left but to seek a shelter in the rocks, and remain
there until morning dawned. He easily discovered
a fissure in the steep bank above the river, crept in —
" blessed himself " — and lay down to sleep upon his
cold and rugged bed.

What situation could be more desolate and heart-
sinking than this ? Imprisoned among savage moun-
tains, perched in a wild rock far above the rest of mankind,
separated from human help by an impassable torrent,
cold, hungry, and exhausted ; yet all these dejecting
circumstances were unheeded by the hardy mountaineer.
He had but one source of terror : the otter-hunter had
often described this glen as a favourite haunt of fairies ;
and " what would become of him if the gentle- people
caught him there ? "

The midnight hour passed, however, without any
supernatural visitation. No fairy revelry disturbed the
peasant's slumbers ; the rain ceased ; the flood was
falling ; the chough and raven were preparing to take
wing ; and while the first faint light was breaking through
the mountain mists, Cormac, anxious to quit his cheerless
bivouac, crawled out from his cold retreat.

Suddenly, from above, an indistinct noise alarmed
him. Feet clattered down the rocky path ; a rush,
a snorting, announced their near approach, and a herd
of deer appeared within half a stone's cast. They

IO2 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

traversed the narrow track in single files, and were moving
rapidly down the mountain side to browse in the glen
beneath.

When the leading stag discovered the startled peasant,
he halted, tossed his antlers wildly, and gave a loud
and peculiar neigh. The pause, though momentary,
permitted the rear to come up, and the herd were
clustered in a group. The panic lasted but an instant :
they turned round, and with amazing speed rushed
up the hill, regained the heights, and were lost in the
thick mist. Cormac could not reckon them accurately,
but imagined their number to be about sixteen.

It is seldom, now, that the red deer are seen in herds.
Within late years they have diminished sadly, and
unless vigorous means are promptly adopted to prevent
their destruction by poachers, like their ancient enemy,
the rough Irish greyhound, they, too, will become
extinct. My cousin, when a boy, has often met forty
deer herded together ; but, from their decreased
numbers, one rarely sees now more than a few brace.
Since the French descent upon this coast in Ninety-
eight, their destruction has been rapid. Unfortunately,
many of the fire-arms then distributed among the
peasantry remain in their possession still, and in the
winter months, when the severity of the season forces
the deer to leave the hills and seek food and shelter
in the valleys, idle ruffians, too well acquainted with the
passes of the mountains, take that opportunity to
surprise and slaughter them.

There are many circumstances connected with this
scarce and beautiful species that should render their
preservation a matter of national interest. They are the
last relic of other times ; and all besides of the once

RED DEER. 103

famed stock which tenanted the Irish forests have
disappeared. The wolf, the morse-deer, the Irish
greyhound, exist no longer ; and this noble creature is
the sole remnant of her aboriginal animals, when Ireland
was in her wild and independent condition.

Individual exertions to continue the red deer are found
to be of little use. They seldom breed when deprived
of liberty, and restricted to the enclosures of a park.
If they do, the offspring degenerates, and the produce
is very inferior in size to what it would have been, had
the animal remained in its state of natural freedom.
Even when taken young in the mountains, to rear the
fawns is a difficult and uncertain task. My cousin has,
for many seasons, made the attempt, and generally
failed three times for once that he succeeded. Last
year one young deer that he procured throve well and
grew apace until he was sufficiently stout to go out and
graze with the cows. Unfortunately, a visitor brought
a savage-tempered greyhound to the Lodge, the dog
attacked the fawn, and it died of the worrying it received
before the greyhound could be taken off.

It is almost impossible to procure the fawns from the
mountains in an uninjured state. They generally
receive a blow of a stick or stone from the captor, or
undergo such rough usage in conveying them to the
low-lands that death commonly ensues. A fine, well-
grown male was brought to the Lodge last week. For
a day or two nothing could be more promising than its
appearance. It began, however, on the fourth morning
to pine away, and soon after died. We opened it to
ascertain, if possible, the cause of its death, and dis-
covered a gangrened wound in the side, evidently
produced by a blow. The peasant who brought him

104 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

declared that he was sound and uninjured ; and to
account for his caption swore lustily that he caught the
jaian asleep, but it appeared that the rogue had knocked
the poor animal over with a stone, and thus produced
the inward bruise which terminated fatally.

It is strange that a creature of such strength and
endurance when arrived at maturity should be so
very difficult to bring up. Means were resorted to by
my kinsman to have the cow's assimilated to the wild
deer's milk, by changing the fawn's nurse to a healthier
and poorer pasturage ; a lichen, indigenous to the moun-
tains on which the deer principally feeds, was also
procured, and intermixed with the cow's hay ; and yet
this attention and trouble were attended with but indif-
ferent success.

When once, however, the period of infancy is passed,
the wild deer is hardy, vigorous, and easily provided
for. At different times many have been located in
the neighbouring parks, and lived there to a great age.
In the domain of a nobleman in Roscommon there are
several brace — and in the park of Clogher a stag and
hind are confined at present ; they are all vigorous
and healthy, but have never continued their species.

Many curious anecdotes are recorded of the red deer.
Some years since a hind was domesticated by a neigh-
bouring baronet. It was a fine and playful animal, and
gave many proofs of extraordinary sagacity. Like many
fairer favourites, she was a very troublesome one, and,
from her cunning and activity, a sad torment to the
gardener. No fences would exclude her from the
shrubberies, and if the garden gates were for a moment
insecure, the hind was sure to discover the neglect,
and avail herself of the opportunity to taste the choicest

RED DEER. 105

vegetables. This beautiful but mischievous pet met
with some accidental injury, and died, to the great
regret of her proprietor.

Many years ago, a stag was in the possession of a
gentleman of Tyrawley. He grew to be a powerful
and splendid beast, but his propensities and disposi-
tions were very different to those of the playful and
innocent hind.

The stag was bold and violent, detested strangers
and women, and from his enormous size and strength,
was frequently a very dangerous playfellow. He had
a particular fancy for horses, resided mostly in the
stable, and when the carriage was ordered to the door,
if permitted, he would accompany it. A curious anec-
dote is told of him. He had no objection whatever to
allow a gentleman to enter the coach ; but to the fair
sex he had an unconquerable aversion, and with his
consent no lady should be an inside passenger. The
servants were obliged to drive him away before their
mistress could venture to appear; and at last, he became so
troublesome and unsafe, as to render his banishment to
an adjoining deer-park the necessary punishment of his
indocility. He did not survive this disgrace long ;
he pined away rapidly, avoided the fallow deer, and
died, as my informant declared, of a broken heart.

In killing deer, it is necessary to select the head, or
aim directly behind the shoulder. A body wound
may eventually destroy the animal, but the chances are,
that he will carry off the ball. Many, when severely
struck, escape the shooter ; and there have been stags
killed in these mountains, who bore the marks of
severe wounds, from the effects of which they had
entirely recovered. The following singular and authentic

106 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

instance of a bullet lodging in what is usually con-
sidered a mortal place, and failing to occasion death,
is extracted from a scientific periodical.*

" A buck, that was remarkably fat and healthy in
condition, in August, 1816, was killed in Bradbury Park,
and on opening him, it was discovered, that at some
distant time he had been shot in the heart, a ball being
found in a cyst in the substance of that viscus, about
two inches from the apex. The surface of the cyst
had a whitish appearance ; the ball weighed two hundred
and ninety-two grains, and was quite flat. Mr.
Richardson, the park-keeper, who opened the animal,
is of opinion the ball had struck some hard substance
before entering the body of the deer. That the animal
should subsist long after receiving this ball, is endea-
voured to be accounted for from the instance of a soldier,
who survived forty-nine hours after receiving a bayonet
wound in the heart : however, the recovery from a
gun-shot wound in an animal inferior to man can, in
no respect, materially alter the importance of the fact,
and of the great extent to which this vital organ may
sustain injury from external violence."

* The Edinburgh Medical Journal.

A BLANK FISHING DAY.

CHAPTER XVI.

A CIRCUMSTANCE to-day has given us considerable
uneasiness ; one of our best setters, who had been
observed to look rather dull yesterday, has refused his
food, and continues Kstless of what is passing around
him. He was a sprightly, active-minded dog, and his
torpidness is alarming. We promptly separated him
from his companions, and have chained him in an
adjoining cabin, under the especial observation of
old Antony. The otter-killer is preparing to use his
leech-craft, and I trust with good effect. Canine
madness is a frightful visitation, and no caution can
be too strict to guard against its melancholy conse-
quences.

Who shall say that success in angling can be calcu-
lated upon with anything like certainty ? If a man
were gifted with the properties of a walking barometer,
the weather of this most capricious corner of the earth
would set his prognostics at defiance. Never did a
morning look more favourable ; it was just such a one
as an angler would swear by ; a grey, dark, sober, settled
sky, without any vexatious glare of threatening sun-
shine to interrupt his sport. The otter-killer was not
so sanguine of this happy promise of good weather as
we were. He observed certain little clouds, to which
he gave some Irish name. " The wind, too, had shifted
a point southerly since daybreak, and the pinkeens*
were jumping, as they always jump, when they expect
more water." We laughed at him ; but Antony was
right.

* The usual name among the peasantry for samlets and trout fry.

108 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

We tried some beautiful pools ; the fish were rising
fast ; they sprang over the surface of the water frequently,
and no worse omen can threaten the fishermen with
disappointment. If they did condescend to notice our
flies, they rose as if they wished merely to reconnoitre
them, or struck at them scornfully with their tails.

Still hoping that a change in the temper of the fish
— for a lady is not more fanciful — might yet crown our
efforts with success, we proceeded down the river and
pushed on for Pullgarrow. To angle here with the water
clean and full, and the wind brisk from the westward,
would almost repay a pilgrimage. For its extent, there
is not a better salmon haunt in Christendom. The
fish were rising in dozens, and where the river rushes
into the neck of the pool, the constant breaking of the
surface by the rolling or springing of the salmon, was
incredible. The number of fish collected in this pool
must have been immense, for in every part of it they were
rising simultaneously But not one of them would touch
the fly I hooked a salmon accidentally in the side,
and after a short and violent struggle the hold broke
and I lost him. The mode of fishing attributed by
Sir Humphry Davy to the Galway fishermen must be
as unprofitable as unartistlike. If ever it could avail,
we should have succeeded to-day in Pullgarrow.

Meanwhile the breeze gradually died away, or came
in gusts from the south ; the sky in the same quarter
grew thick and misty ; large drops fell, and in a short
time the rain came down in torrents. The reason
why the salmon had declined our flies was now dis-
closed ; although we had not foreseen the coming change,
the fish had evidently expected it. Wearied and
drenched, we returned to our shooting quarters. But

A BLANK FISHING DAY. 1 09

we speedily forgot our fatigue and disappointment.
Antony's report of the health of his canine patient was
satisfactory. The animal's stomach had been dis-
ordered, and the otter-hunter's remedies were promptly
administered, and successful. My cousin had a dread
of madness breaking out in his kennel ; and from his
melancholy experience of the fearful consequences of
neglect, I do not marvel that on the first symptom of
loss of appetite or abated spirits, he forthwith causes
the suspected dog to be removed, and places him under
a strict surveillance.

Our conversation after dinner naturally turned upon
the indisposition of the setter. — " You may think, my
dear Frank," said my cousin, " that I carry my appre-
hensions of the slightest illness in my dogs to a ridiculous
and unnecessary length ; but when I tell you that I
have witnessed the fatal course of hydrophobia, in the
human as well as the brute victim, you may then con-
ceive the horror I feel when anything recalls to my
memory this hopeless malady.

" During my first season at the Dublin University,
I was invited to pass a short vacation with a relative of
my mother. He lived in the south of Ireland, in an
ancient family mansion-house, situated in the mountains,
and at a considerable distance from the mail-coach
road.

" This gentleman was many years older than I. He
had an only sister, a girl of sixteen, beautiful and accom-
plished ; at the period of my visit she was still at school,
but was to finally leave it, as my host informed me,
at Midsummer.

" Never was there a more perfect specimen of primi-
tive Milesian life, than that which the domicile of my

IIO WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

worthy relative exhibited. The house was enormously
large — half ruinous — and all, within and without, wild,
rackety, and irregular. There was a troop of idle and
slatternly servants of both sexes, distracting every part
of the establishment : and a pack of useless dogs
infesting the premises, and crossing you at every turn.
Between the biped and quadruped nuisances an eternal
war was carried on, and not an hour of the day elapsed,
but a canine outcry announced that some of those
unhappy curs were being ejected by the butler, or
pelted by the cook.

" So common-place was this everlasting uproar,
that after a few days I almost ceased to notice it. I
was dressing for dinner, when the noise of dogs quarrel-
ling in the yard, brought me to the window ; a terrier
was being worried by a rough, savage-looking fox-
hound, whom I had before this noticed and avoided.
At the moment my host was crossing from the stable ;
he struck the hound with his whip, but, regardless of
the blow, he continued his attack upon the smaller
dog. The old butler, in coming from the garden,
observed the dogs fighting, and stopped to assist in
separating them. Just then, the brute quitted the
terrier, seized the master by the leg, and cut the servant
in the hand. A groom rushed out on hearing the
uproar, struck the prongs of a pitchfork through the dog's
body, and killed him on the spot. This scene occurred
in less time than I have taken in relating it.

" I hastened from my dressing-room ; my host had
bared his leg, and was washing the wound, which was
a jagged tear from the hound's tooth. Part of the
skin was loose, and a sudden thought appeared to strike
him. He desired an iron to be heated ; took a sharp

A BLANK FISHING DAY. Ill

penknife from his pocket, coolly and effectually removed
the ragged flesh, and, regardless of the agony it occa-
sioned, with amazing determination, cauterized the
wound severely.

" The old butler, however, contented himself with
binding up his bleeding hand. He endeavoured to
dissuade his master from undergoing what he considered
to be unnecessary pain. ' The dog was dead, sure, and
that was quite sufficient to prevent any danger arising
from the bite ' ; and, satisfied with this precaution,
he remained indifferent to future consequences and in
perfect confidence that no ulterior injury could occur
from the wound.

" Three months passed away — my friend's sister was
returning from school — and, as the mountain road was
in bad repair, and a bridge had been swept away by the
floods, saddle-horses were sent to meet the carriage.
The old butler, who had some private affairs to transact
in the neighbouring town, volunteered to be the escort
of his young mistress, and obtained permission.

" That there was something unusual in the look and
manner of her attendant, was quickly remarked by the
lady. His address was wild and hurried, and some
extraordinary feelings appeared to agitate him. To
an inquiry if he was unwell, he returned a vague and
unmeaning answer ; he trembled violently when assist-
ing her on horseback, and it was evident that some
strange and fearful sensations disturbed him.

" They rode some miles rapidly, until they reached
the rivulet where the bridge had been carried off by the
flood. To cross the stream was no way difficult, as the
water barely covered the horse's fetlock. The lady
had ridden through the water, when a thrilling cry

112 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

of indescribable agony from her attendant arrested her.
Her servant was on the opposite side, endeavouring to
rein in his unwilling horse, and in his face there was a
horrible and convulsed look that terrified his alarmed
mistress. To her anxious questions, he only replied
by groans, which too truly betrayed his sufferings ;
at last he pointed to the stream before him, and
exclaimed, '/ cannot, dare not, cross it! Oh, God!
I am lost ! — the dog — the dog ! '

" What situation could be more frightful than that
in which the lady found herself ? In the centre of a
desolate and unpeopled moor, far from assistance, and
left alone with a person afflicted with decided madness.
She might, it is true, have abandoned him ; for the
terrors of the poor wretch would have prevented him
from crossing the rivulet ; but, with extraordinary
courage, she returned, seized the bridle fearlessly, and,
notwithstanding the outcries of the unhappy man,
forced his horse through the water, and never left his
side, until she fortunately overtook some tenants of
her brother returning from a neighbouring fair.

" I arrived on a visit the third evening after this
occurrence, and the recollection of that poor old man's
sufferings has ever since haunted my memory. All that
medical skill and affectionate attention on his master's
part could do to assuage his pain, and mitigate the
agonies he occasionally underwent, was done. At
length, the moment that was devoutly prayed for came.
He died on the sixth morning.

" From this horrible fate nothing but his own deter-
mination preserved my relative : and, by the timely
use of a painful remedy, excision and cautery of the
wound, he escaped this dreadful disease.

A BLANK FISHING DAY. 113

" I have related the calamity of another ; but I,
too, have been a sufferer, although, thank God ! not
in person.

" A setter of uncommon beauty was presented to me
by a gentleman under peculiar circumstances. He
had been the favourite companion of his deceased wife ;
and, during her long and hopeless illness had seldom
left her chamber. He begged me to allow him a place
in the Lodge, and not subject him to the restraint of
the kennel. His wishes were obeyed, and Carlo was
duly installed into all the rights and privileges of a carpet-
dog.

" I left home on a shooting- visit, and, luckily, brought
a brace of my best setters with me. A week after my
departure, an express reached me to say that Carlo
' was very odd, would not eat, and bit and worried
every dog he met with.' I took alarm instantly, and
returned home without delay. I found the household
in desperate alarm, and Carlo was confined in a separate
out-house, but not until he had worried and torn every
dog in my possession !

" I went to reconnoitre him through an iron-stan-
chioned window : he was in the last and frightfullest
stage of confirmed hydrophobia. I sent for a rifle and
terminated the animal's life.

" I was at first afraid to inquire into the extent of my
calamity. I mustered courage to enter the kennel, and
personally investigated the state of my dogs. Every
one of them, ten in number, had been bitten, and several
of them were fearfully mutilated by the rabid animal
I had despatched. Even the terriers had not escaped ;
and they, poor animals ! were necessarily included
in the general order for execution that I issued to the

114 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

keeper. That noble house-dog, who has been the
subject of your admiration, was, fortunately, preserved,
by having been sent for by a gentleman who resided
in the next county.

" A most extraordinary insensibility to danger was
evinced by the female members of my household.
Unluckily, Antony was absent in the mountains, setting
a broken bone ; the keeper had accompanied me ; every
one acquainted with the habits and management of dogs
was from home ; and the kennel was entrusted to the
kitchen-boy. On this occasion the disease appears to
have come on gradually, and for days the setter betrayed
the customary signs of incipient madness. Had he
been tied up even when the malady was fully established,
no mischief might have resulted. But until his violence
became frightful, he was actually permitted to run
about the house, and got access to the kennel, while
the boy was carrying food to his charge.

" The escape of the servants was miraculous. The
day only before my arrival, the dog, in a paroxysm of
suffering, had thrown himself across the fireplace.
' Come away from that, Biddy,' said the old cook, with
perfect nonchalance, to her attendant : ' Don't ye see
the dog is mad? ' and continued some culinary operation,
in which, at a distant corner of the kitchen, she was
engaged. The boy's preservation was unaccountable.
The poor lad made many unavailing efforts to part the
dogs when fighting in the kennel, and prevent the setters
from being bitten. In this perilous attempt his clothes
were literally torn to ribbons ; but, fortunately for
himself, there was not a scratch visible on his skin."

VISITING ACHIL. 115

CHAPTER XVII.

FOR three days it has continued raining and blowing
violently. We fortunately abandoned the mountain
hut, on noticing the unpromising aspect of the weather,
before the flood rose to a height that would have insu-
lated us in the hills. We have determined on an excur-
sion into Achil, and wait impatiently until the wind
and clouds give some indication of amendment. The
moon enters her second quarter to-night, and we trust
her ladyship's influence may mitigate the unusual
severity of the weather.

This morning my servant's report was favourable ;
the sky looked settled, the wind blew from the north-
west, and old Antony was satisfied with the prognostics.
My cousin was already a-foot, and his voice at my
window loudly summoned me to " turn-out." I opened
the curtains — the sun was shining as if he intended
to keep a fair face throughout the day, and there was a
cheerful bustle in front of the Lodge which gave " note
of preparation." The main-sail of the hooker was
already chalk up and shivering in the morning breeze ;
and the boat men, sitting on the grass before the window,
were preparing lines and baiting spillets. The piper
looked on, stretching one arm lazily out, while with the
other he hitched up the waistband of his unmentionables ;
and frequent visits of the dog-boy to the kennel showed
that both bipeds and quadrupeds would be shortly in
requisition. Hammocks, hampers, and gun-cases, were
subsequently embarked, and about eight o'clock we had
finished our dejeuner and committed our persons and
fortunes to the waves.

Il6 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

Never was there a lovelier day or wilder scenery ; after
we had cleared the river and opened the bay, a view of
surpassing grandeur was presented. We were sur-
rounded on every side by an amphitheatre of bold and
endless hills, except where the opening to the Atlantic
showed us the dark waters of a boundless ocean —
the surface was clear and undisturbed — and the light
breeze rippled the long and measured undulations
from the sea, and bore us gently towards the island.
The bay was filled with mackerel, and consequently
it was crowded with sea-fowl. In clamorous groups
the gulls were darting on the fish below, and an endless
variety of puffins and cormorants were incessant in
pursuit of the smaller fry, which had attracted the
shoals of mackerel from the deep. But the wind was
too scanty, and the hooker's sailing not sufficiently fast,
to allow us to kill fish in any quantity. We occasionally,
however, caught a mackerel, and shot, among a number of
water-fowls, a beautiful specimen of the sea-hawk,
which I shall endeavour to preserve.

We had gradually neared Dugurth, which is the only
spot on which, for many miles a boat, even in moderate
weather, can safely effect a landing, when a galley stood
out of Elly bay and bore down upon us. Our courses
nearly crossed : they were running off the wind, we
close-hauled as possible. Nothing could be more
picturesque than the light and elegant appearance of
this " fairy frigate." At a little distance she seemed
a cloud of canvas flitting across the sea, for the long,
low hull was not visible until her close approach revealed
it. Her large lugs and top-sails were of the whitest
duck, and as all her sails drew, light as the breeze was,
she passed us with the velocity of a race-horse. The

VISITING ACHIL. 117

airy motion of this " light shalloop " as she glided
through the water, might, to the fancy of a poet, present
a similitude of that imaginary bark in which the spirits
of departed mariners are seen flitting over the dark
billows beneath which their bodies rest.

Having weathered the Ridge Point, we made a signal
for a rowing-boat, and one immediately came off. Our
boatmen, having ascertained by their landmarks that
they were upon clean ground, prepared to shoot their
spillets. We left them, taking with us our dogs and
attendants, and landed on a small, sandy beach.

Having established our head- quarters in the watch-
house of the coast-guard, and procured an adjoining
cabin for the suite, we set out to look for grouse, taking
a westerly direction along the base of Slieve More.
Deceived by the false report of the villagers, we found
the beat we had chosen neither a pleasant nor produc-
tive one. The heath was short and withered, the side
of the mountain unsheltered, and exposed to the severe
and almost eternal west wind : and, with the exception
of a very few banks beside the water-courses, and one
or two natural ravines, there was not a spot in which a
grouse could shelter. In these hollows we generally
found a stager* and in one rugged dell shot three old
cocks. Contrary to their general caution they stood
the dogs well, or, from the short cover and stunted
heath, had the weather been wet and the birds wary,
it would have been almost impossible to have approached
them. Against running after grouse I uplift my voice.
If they are wild, and will not stand or sit, a commonplace
occurrence in wet, cold weather, I would recommend
gentlemen to remain at home. If circumstances bring

* An old cock grouse which has not paired.

Il8 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

them to the moors, or they are particularly solicited
(as I have often been) to procure birds let them depend
on close-marking, tie up every dog but the steadiest
one, and quietly, patiently, and silently endeavour
to come within range of their object. If the bird moves,
then to out-flank him is the best chance. Take a con-
siderable circuit, and the more apparent carelessness
you show in striving to close with a wild grouse, the
more likely you will be to succeed. If the bird observes
any hurry in the approach of the shooter, he will take
alarm instantly, and an immediate flight will show
that he has been perfectly on the qui-vive. The peasants,
while looking after cattle and cutting peats upon the
hill, had frequently disturbed those solitary birds,
and concluded, from meeting them so often, that there
must be some packs convenient.

Too late we found out our error ; it was four o'clock,
and we determined to abandon the heath for the day ;
and, having from a high ground examined the interior
of the island, we arranged to-morrow's beat accordingly.

Quitting the hill, we walked for a mile along the beach
to some bent banks, where we were told that rabbits
were abundant. In an hour we shot eight pair, and two
couple of whimbrels ; and perceiving that the hooker
had anchored off the landing-place, we gave up shooting
and returned to the watch-house.

In our absence the servants had been active ; they
slung our hammocks, and made the necessary prepara-
tions for cooking dinner. The chief officer of the coast-
guard kindly gave us his own apartment. His little
cabin was crowded with every necessary requisite for
one so far removed from the civilized portion of man-
kind, and it was amusing to remark the ingenuity with

VISITING ACHIL. 1 19

which the occupier had arranged his numerous goods
and chattels ; nothing could exceed the cleanliness
of his cottage, and it formed a striking contrast to the
filth and misery of the surrounding hovels.

The boatmen were just landing in their punt, and we
descended to the beach to ascertain what addition to
our cuisine the spillets had afforded. They produced
a pair of fine soles, and a score of large plaice. These,
with the mackerel taken in the morning, supplied the
fish department admirably. Our purveyor had pur-
chased a Keim sheep* ; and at six o'clock we went to
dinner. Nothing could be more delicious than our
fare ; — fish transferred from the sea to the kettle, and
diminutive mutton, whose only fault was excessive
fatness. We had a grouse, too, one of our stagers,
but it was coarse and flavourless ; and if toughness
be a test of years, I should set him down as coeval with
Saint Patrick.

The host joined us after dinner, and presented us
with a bottle of genuine Inniskea. If such be the
customary produce of their stills, those gifted islanders
are worthy of being canonized. Although our host's
flask was a true Hollander, having an amplitude of bottom
that would have put two degenerate wine-bottles to the
blush, I regret to say such unyielding thirst beset us,
that before any of the company sought a hammock, the
honest Dutchman was left without a drop !

We were astir betimes next morning. It was an
excellent shooting-day ; a brisk breeze had sprung up
with the first of flood, and the fog, rising gradually up
the mountain-side, cleared the summit of Slieve More,

* Keim is a mountain district of Achil, celebrated for the flavour
and fatness of its sheep.

I2O WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

leaving its rugged pinnacle — a disordered mass of
shivered granite — sparkling in the sunshine. Our dogs
were in beautiful condition ; and we were gratified to
hear from a water-guard patrol, that, but an hour before,
he had sprung a strong pack of birds on our purposed
beat.

But, alas ! the departed Dutchman had left us certain
twinges in the head to make us recollect him, and we
felt a nervous sensibility that was anything but favour-
able to good shooting. An immersion in the sea was
recommended as a certain remedy, and our host con-
ducted us to a rock, from which we could plunge into
water four fathoms deep, and yet clear enough to enable
us to observe the shells and pebbles at the bottom.
We enjoyed a delightful ablution, returned new men
to the watch-house, and, like giants refreshed, prepared
for a good day's fag.

So salutary proved our bath, that we breakfasted as
if we had never drained a Dutchman in our lives. The
dogs were duly coupled, and sundry disengaged gentle-
men of the village, whom we found lounging at the door,
were being invested with shot and game bags, when,
roused by an exclamation of the keeper, we witnessed
a curious scene.

In a huge and inaccessible crag, on the east side, of
Slieve More, and immediately above the coast-guard
station, the eagles had formed an aerie ; — a fissure in
the cliffs beyond the possibility of being disturbed by
the approach of man, afforded these birds, for many
years, a secure retreat. Here, annually, they pro-
duced their offspring, to the sad annoyance of the
islanders, and more particularly the villagers of Dugurth.
This morning they had descended from their rocky

VISITING ACHIL. 121

habitation, accompanied by two eaglets, evidently to
teach their young to stoop and lift their prey.* The
old birds tore up turfs from the mountain side, rose high
in the air and dropped them. The eaglets, in turn,
stooped, and took them up again. This was frequently
repeated, and the course of instruction having lasted
half-an-hour, the eagles mounted to their aerie, and, leav-
ing their progeny safely in the nest, sailed off upon the
rising breeze to provide for the evening meal. We viewed
the proceedings of this predatory family through the
telescope of the coast-guard, who gave us many curious
anecdotes of those daring and destructive birds.

We took an opposite course to the barren beat we had
yesterday pursued. The bogs were intersected by
several mountain-streams, whose dry and heathy banks
offered excellent feeding and shelter for grouse. Our
success, however, was very indifferent to what we had
anticipated, from the promising appearance of the ground,
and we had spent an hour, hunting with two brace of
prime dogs, before we saw a bird. We met numerous
indications of a strong pack having recently visited
the river, and left no place untried which birds might
be expected to frequent. At last, we began to imagine
that the eagles had been here before us, when at some
distance a young setter dropped on a heathy brow that
overhung the rivulet. We were advancing, but the pack,
alarmed by the sudden appearance of the dog above
them, took wing, and we had to content ourselves with
reckoning them, as they got up bird by bird. We

* " The story of the eagle brought to the ground, after a severe
conflict with a cat, which it had seized and taken up into the air
with its talons, is very remarkable. Mr. Barber, who was an eye-
witness of the fact, made a drawing of it, which he afterwards
engraved . ' ' — 'Bewick.

122 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

counted nineteen, and concluded that two broods had
packed accidentally.* They all pitched in a scattered
manner on the side of a neighbouring eminence, and
having marked them carefully down, we took up one
brace of dogs, and with the other proceeded quietly to
work. I never, in my sporting experience, saw a pack
disposed of in better style. The dogs picked up the
broken birds immediately, and with one miss (mine was
the deed !) we brought nine brace to bag. The sole
survivor probably roaded off during the slaughter, or
threw himself into a hole in the heath, for we could not
make him out.

From our opening essay, we reckoned that this would
prove an exterminating day ; but, with the des-
truction of this pack our sport might be said to cease.
For hours we traversed hills and crossed moors, meeting
but one weak brood and a few stagers. We did
find another brood, but the poults were scarcely able
to leave the ground, and, consequently, were too weak
for shooting. From their appearance, we concluded them
to be a second progeny of birds, who had lost their
first eggs by robbery or vermin. We met, however,
a number of hares, and shot seven. These, with thirteen
brace of grouse, filled the game bags.

Our course homewards lay along the base of Slieve
More. The evening was calm and sultry, and a number
of men and women of all ages were seated on the rocks
gaffing the horse-mackerel, or fishing for gunners, which
were seen in numbers on the surface of the water.
The gunner is the common name given to the sea-bream

* I have never known red grouse flock in Ireland. Excepting
an accidental junction of two broods, I have not met with grouse
in any considerable number. Broods will occasionally pack together,
but it is not a common occurrence.

VISITING ACHIL 123

by the fishermen of the western coast. They are found
near the shore, in from five to fifteen fathom water,
where the bottom is foul and rocky. The gunners are
pretty but insipid fish, and in variety of colour differ
from each other more than any species of the finny tribe
I have met with. In size they seldom exceed three or
four pounds : but from the avidity with which they
bite, they afford excellent amusement when the breeze
is not sufficiently stiff to allow a take of mackerel and
coal-fish. The bait generally used for gunners, is a
small crab, broken and bound about the hook with a
thread, and two hooks affixed to a trap-stick, with a
light leaden plummet, comprise the simple apparatus
requisite for this kind of sea-fishing.

This rock-fishing is more dangerous than productive,
and many lives have been lost in pursuing it. Descend-
ing the precipices to reach the water's edge, is attended
with imminent risk : and as sudden and terrible swells
come in frequently and unexpectedly from the Atlantic,
many fishers have been swept off the rocks, and perished.
Another perilous occupation of the female peasants
is what they term " picking cranagh." This sea- weed,
which forms a favourite esculent of the islanders, grows
on the rocks that are but occasionally covered by the sea.
Exposure to sudden swells from the ocean attends
those who search for it, and loss of life has too often
occurred.

One accident, which happened not long since, was
truly melancholy. A woman, the mother of several
helpless children, and who, but a month before, had
given birth to twins, perished in the sight of her family.
No relief in such cases can be given : the reflux of these
mountainous waves bears the victims away, and, with

124 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

rare exceptions, the bodies are never found, as they are
either borne out to sea, or entombed in one of the many
deep caverns with which the bases of these fearful
precipices are perforated.

We reached home at seven, made a hasty toilet, and
dined sumptuously from mountain mutton and a fine
John Dory, which the priest had sent us in our absence.
Determined to eschew temptation, we avoided engaging
a fresh Dutchman, which our host pressed upon us,
and put in a quiet evening. After smoking a cigar,
discussing its necessary association of schnaps and
water, we turned into our hammocks in such grave and
philosophic moderation, as might have claimed the
approbation of Sir Humphry, and entitled us to a place
of honour in any Temperance Society in Great Britain.

THE EAGLE'S CLIFF. 125

CHAPTER XVIII.

FROM the scarcity of grouse in Achil, we altered our
original plans, and decided upon sending our dogs back
to the Lodge by a rowing-boat, and going in the hooker
to visit the island of Inniskea.

After breakfast we proceeded to embark our personals ;
and having despatched our heavy luggage by the atten-
dants, whom we ordered home, we ascended the hill
(while the crew were clearing and baiting their spillets),
in the vague hope of getting a shot at those predatory
birds, of whose spoliations we had heard so much on the
preceding evening.

On reaching the bottom of the rock in whose face the
aerie stands, we discovered that the old birds were
absent ; and as the nest was formed in a deep fissure,
we could not ascertain its situation exactly. But that the
eagles' dwelling was above us was evident enough :
the base of the cliff was strewn with bones and feathers,
and the accumulation of both was extraordinary. The
bones of rabbits, hares, and domestic fowls, were most
numerous ; but those of smaller game, and various
sorts of fish, were visible among the heap.

Many attempts are annually made to destroy this
predatory family ; but it is impossible to rob the nest.
Situated two hundred feet above the base of the rock,
it is, of course, unapproachable from below ; and as the
cliffs beetle over it frightfully, to assail it from above
would be a hazardous essay. An enterprising peasant,
some years since, was let down by a rope and basket ;
but he was fiercely attacked by the old birds, and the
basket nearly overturned. Fortunately, the cord was

126 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

strong, and had sufficient length to allow his being lowered
rapidly, or he would have undoubtedly sustained some
bodily injury from the wings and talons of those enraged
and savage birds. The following interesting anecdote
is well authenticated : " Two eagles, in the wildest
part of a neighbouring county, had for some time depre-
dated on the neighbourhood, and bore away lambs,
kids, &c., for the sustenance of their young. Some
peasants determined, if possible, to obtain the young
birds ; and ascended the mountains, but found that the
nest was in a part of the perpendicular rock, near one
hundred feet below the summit, and about three hundred
above the sea, which, with terrific appearances, dashed
against its base. They had provided themselves with
ropes, and a lad, armed with a cimetar, was by this
means lowered by the rest. He arrived in safety at the
nest, where, as he expected, he was attacked with infinite
fury by one of the old eagles, at which he made a stroke
with his sword, that nearly cut asunder the rope by which
he was suspended. Fortunately, one strand of it
remained. He described his state to his comrades,
waiting in horrible expectation that the division of the
cord would precipitate him to the bottom ; but though
he might have been to die by a rope, it was not in this
manner. He was cautiously and safely hauled up ;
when it was found that his hair, which a quarter of an
hour before had been of a dark auburn, had in that short
period, become perfectly white."

The village of Dugurth suffers heavily from its unfor-
tunate proximity to the aerie. When the wind blows
from a favourable point, the eagle, in the grey of morning,
sweeps through the cabins, and never fails in carrying
off some prey.

THE EAGLE'S CLIFF. 127

To black fowls, eagles appear particularly attached ;
and the villagers avoid, as much as possible, rearing
birds of that colour.

A few days before our arrival, one of the coast-guards,
alarmed by the cries of a boy, rushed from the watch-
house ; the eagle had taken up a black hen, and as he
passed within a few yards, the man flung his cap at him.
The eagle dropped the bird ; it was quite dead, however,
the talons having shattered the back-bone. The
villagers say (with what truth I know not) that turkeys
are never taken.

That the eagle is extremely destructive to fish, and par-
ticularly so to salmon, many circumstances would prove.
They are constantly discovered watching the fords,
in the spawning season, and are seen to seize and carry
off the fish One curious anecdote I heard from my
friend the priest. Some years since, a herdsman, on
a very sultry day in July, while looking for a missing
sheep, observed an eagle posted on a bank that overhung
a pool. Presently the bird stooped and seized a salmon,
and a violent struggle ensued. When the herd reached
the spot, he found the eagle pulled under water by the
strength of the fish, and the calmness of the day joined
to drenched plumage, rendered him unable to extricate
himself. With a stone, the peasant broke the eagle's
pinion, and actually secured the spoiler and his victim,
for he found the salmon dying in his grasp.

When shooting on Lord Sligo's mountains, near the
Killeries, I heard many particulars of the eagle's habits
and history, from a grey-haired peasant, who had passed a
long life in these wilds. The scarcity of hares, which here
were once abundant, he attributed to the rapacity of
those birds ; and he affirmed that, when in pursuit of

128 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

these animals, the eagle evinced a degree of intelligence
that appeared extraordinary. They coursed the hares,
he said, with great judgment and certain success ; one
bird was the active follower, while another remained in
reserve, at the distance of forty or fifty yards. If the
hare by a sudden turn, freed herself from her most
pressing enemy, the second bird instantly took up the
chase, and thus prevented the victim from having a
moment's respite.

He had remarked the eagles, also, while they were
engaged in fishing. They chose a small ford upon the
rivulet which connects Glencullen with Glandullah,
and, posted on either side, waited patiently for the salmon
to pass over. Their watch was never fruitless ; and many
a salmon, in its transit from the sea to the lake, was
transferred from his native element to the wild aerie in
the Alpine cliff, that beetles over the romantic waters
of Glencullen.

Nor is it to birds of prey alone that the extreme scarcity
of game upon this island may be attributed. Foxes
are found here in numbers that appear incredible. The
sides of Slieve More, in places formed of masses of
disrupted rock, afford numerous and inaccessible burrows
to those mischievous animals ; and the sand-banks,
stocked with rabbits, offer them an easy and certain
means of subsistence. Hence, their annual increase
is wonderful ; and the numbers on the island may be
estimated from this simple fact, that one of the coast-
guards, who happened to have a couple of good terriers,
destroyed, in the space of a season, eighteen full-grown
foxes. The multitude of lambs lost by these depre-
dators, has nearly deterred the islanders from keeping
ewes ; and there is not a spot in Great Britain so

THE EAGLES CLIFF. I2Q

persecuted by winged and footed vermin as this wild
district. Of smaller birds of prey there is a plentiful
variety ; but the devastations of the greater tribe cause
their minor larcenies to be unnoticed.

With a light leading breeze, we stood across the bay,
passed the Island of Devilawn, and, running through
a sound, which separates Tarmon from Inniskea, came-to
at the distance of a quarter of a mile from the landing-
place. It was low water, and the boats were all hauled
up upon the beach. Even in the calmest weather
the greatest caution is requisite to protect them from
the heavy and sudden swells that eternally break on
this wild coast ; and, if left within the reach of the surf,
they are frequently stove before the careless crew are
aware of danger. Anxious to land, we fired a gun,
and, being upon an excellent bank for spillet-fishing,
the boatmen adjusted their buoys, and commenced
throwing their lines overboard.

I was watching the progress made by a dozen of the
islanders to launch a row-boat to the water, when
suddenly, from beneath the opposite cliff, a floating
substance appeared to issue from the side of the preci-
pice. We had neared the shore considerably, and the
object, of which I had previously but an indistinct
view, was now more clearly seen. It was a woman
sitting in a curragh, fishing for codling and gunners.
Startled by the discharge of the musket, she pulled a
short distance from the cliffs, and then lay-to upon her
paddles, watching the hooker as she shot the spillets.

" These lazy lubbers will be half-an-hour getting that
heavy row-boat across the sand-ridge," said my kins-
man. " Hail the curragh, Pattigo, and let us get ashore."

To the shout of the skipper, a " cead fealtagh," was

K

130 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

returned ; the paddles dipped in the water, the light
curragh skimmed over the surface like a sea-bird, and
in a few minutes the female and her frail bark were
rocking beneath the counter of the sailing-boat.

I shuddered as I looked over the hooker's side at this
crazy vehicle ; it was but a few slight hoops, secured
together by cords, and overlaid by a covering of canvas,
rendered waterproof by a coating of tar and tallow.
The machine was so unsubstantial that a schoolboy could
carry it easily upon his shoulders. Nor was its fragility
alone that which rendered this bark so perilous ; from
its peculiar construction, it scarcely rested on the surface
of the sea ; and, consequently, the least change of
position in the occupant would inevitably capsize it ;
and yet, in this frail vessel, the young islander sat in
perfect security, a couple of hand-lines coiled at her
feet, and the bottom of the curragh overspread with the
produce of her fishery. Without the romance of Scott's
beautiful boatwoman there was something more than
interesting in the air and look of this wild female. Free
from that timidity which might be expected in the
inhabitant of a remote coast, on her first introduction
to strangers of a different grade in society, she laughed
and jested with the boatmen ; and the play of her
merry hazel eye, and the smile which disclosed a row
of pure and even teeth, had really more in them to
captivate than the cold and regular charms of many a
high-born beauty.

" We must land singly," said my cousin ; " for your
curragh is but a crank concern. Mind how you step
in, Frank." But I had already determined against an
embarkation, and accordingly declined the honour
of being first adventurer. My timidity only excited the

THE EAGLES CLIFF. 13!

mirth of the sea-nymph ; and, unwilling to be laughed
at by a woman, I took courage, and cautiously committed
my person to the skiff ; a change of position was, of
course, necessary on the lady's part, and this she managed
with such adroitness that the equilibrium of the coracle
was undisturbed. In a moment her sculls were flashing
in the waters, and we speedily reached the strand.

The rowing-boat was now afloat, and pulling to the
hooker to bring off my kinsman. My sea-nymph tossed
her fish and paddles to a little boy, who was expecting
her, received with a low curtsey the silver I presented
as my passage-money, and, having returned her small
purse to her bosom, she threw the curragh across her
back, and left me, invoking " God to bless my honour."

The boat returned with my cousin and our guns ; and
while the dinner requisites were being brought ashore, we
strolled towards the side of a hill, where we observed a
number of rabbits at play. They were very numerous,
and exhibited a greater variety than those of the other
warrens that I had as yet visited. We selected some
of the gayest colour for our practice, and whiled an hour
away, until a summons from the cook recalled us to
the village.

The spillets had provided us sumptuously with flat-
fish, and a present of shrimps and lobsters completed
our cuisine. The best house in the island had offered
us its accommodation, and there was an appearance of
comfort and rustic opulence in the furniture, that we
had not anticipated when we landed.

There are numerous chances and god-sends incident
to these islands, which the other lines of sea-coast
seldom obtain. Frequent and valuable wrecks furnish
the inhabitants with many articles of domestic utility.

132 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

The drift timber from the Atlantic gives them an abun-
dant supply for the building and repairs of boats and
houses ; and immense quantities of sea-fowl feathers
are annually collected upon the Black Rock, which is
contiguous to Inniskea. The island affords excellent
pasturage for sheep ; and thus timber, feathers, and
wool enable the inhabitants to have domestic comforts
in abundance. In winter, the take of cod, hake, and ling
is inexhaustible ; peats are excellent and plenty, and
food and fuel are consequently never scarce in Inniskea.

These are, doubtless, great advantages over the
interior districts, but they are barely necessary to com-
pensate the other local inconveniences. Throughout
the greater portion of the winter all communication
with the mainland is interrupted. The sick must die
without relief, and the sinner pass to his account without
the consolations of religion. Should anything beyond
the produce of the island be requisite in the stormy
months, it must be procured with imminent danger ;
and constant loss of life and property forms the unhappy
theme of the tales and traditions of this insulated people.

A calm and misty twilight had fallen on Slieve More,
and abridged the almost boundless range of ocean over
which the eye passed when we first landed. At a little dis-
tance the village girls were milking, carolling those melan-
choly ditties to which the Irish are so partial. I strolled
among the rocks, and chose the narrow path, which the
full tide left between its margin and the cliffs. The moon
was rising now in exquisite beauty — the water was
rippling to the rocks — one long and wavy line of molten
silver undulated across the surface of the sea — and there
were wild cliffs and bolder headlands in glorious relief.
No scene on earth could be more peaceful or romantic.

THE EAGLE'S CLIFF. 133

I was indulging in delicious reverie, when something
like a bird flitted hastily by — again, and there was a
heavy plump in the water. I looked up, — a wild,
unearthly-looking creature stood on the cliff above, in
the very act of launching a huge stone at me ! Just then
a female figure rose beside him, and with threats and
blows drove him from the rock. It was my fair friend
of the curragh, who, seeing me take the lonely path I did,
hastened after to warn me of the danger. She told me
that the assailant was a dangerous lunatic ; he was
treacherous beyond description, and his antipathy to
women and strangers was remarkable. Many accidents
had occurred from his savage disposition. He feared
men and rarely attacked them ; but if he saw a female
at a distance from the village, he would lurk with malig-
nant perseverance for hours behind a bank or cliff to
attack her unawares. Some of the island women had
narrowly escaped death from this truculent monster,
and few of the males but had, at some time or other,
suffered injury from his hands ; a stone was his favourite
missile, which he threw with wonderful force and
precision. To my inquiry " Why this dangerous being
was not removed to some asylum ? " my protectress
replied with a smile, " He was but a poor natural, after
all ; he was born in the island, and God forbid that they
should send him among strangers." On conversing with
my cousin afterwards, he told me that, in the west of
Ireland, the peasantry had a superstitious veneration
for idiots and madmen, and, like the Turks, believed that
insanity and inspiration were only synonymes.

The illicit whisky made in this island holds a first rank
in the estimation of the poteein fancier. The cause of
its superior excellency may arise from the insular

134 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

situation of the place, enabling the distiller to carry on his
business leisurely, and thus avoid the bad consequences
attendant on hurrying the process, — for to rapid and
defective distillation may be ascribed the burnt flavour,
so common in whisky produced within the range of the
Revenue. The barley, also, grown in this and the
other adjacent islands is excellent — and as the spirit is
drawn from a copper still, it has many advantages to
recommend it. The illicit apparatus in common use
is, with few exceptions, made of tin — the capture of a
copper still, from the superior value of the metal, would
be a serious loss, and consequently a cheaper substitute
is resorted to.

Here, the still is considered a valuable heirloom in a
family, and descends in due succession from father to
son. When not in use, it is lowered by a rope into
one of the deep caverns with which the western face of
the island abounds, and nothing but a treacherous
disclosure by some secret enemy could enable the
Revenue to discover the place where it is concealed, in
any of the unfrequent visits they make to this remote
spot.

That the attention of the Preventive officers is not
more particularly turned to a place notorious for its
inroads on the Revenue may appear strange. In fact this
island enjoys a sort of prescriptive privilege to sin against
the ordinances of the Excise. This indulgence arises,
however, not from the apathy of the Revenue, but from
natural causes, which are easily explained. A boat
may approach Inniskea in the full confidence of a settled
calm, and before an hour a gale may come on that will
render any chance of leaving it impracticable, and weeks
will elapse occasionally before an abatement of the storm

THE EAGLE'S CLIFF. 135

would allow the imprisoned stranger to quit those
dangerous shores. Hence, in his professional avocations,
the priest is obliged to watch the weather carefully
before he ventures to visit Inniskea — and it has not
unfrequently occurred that the rites of religion have
been interrupted, and the celebrant obliged to embark,
at a moment's notice, to avoid the consequences of being
caught by a coming gale. The islanders, from constant
observation of the phenomena of sea and sky, generally
foresee the storm before it blows ; but even the oldest
and most skilful inhabitant will frequently be sur-
prised by an unexpected tempest.

There are no people on earth more punctilious in the
interment of the dead than the peasantry of this remote
district. A strange and unaccountable custom exists
of burying different families, resident on the mainland,
in island cemeteries, and great difficulty, and oftentimes
imminent peril, attends the conveyance of a corpse to
its insulated resting-place. No inducement will make
those wild people inter a body apart from the tomb
of its fathers, and if a boat will live, the corpse will be
transported to the family tomb. At times the weather
renders this impracticable, but the deceased is kept for
many days unburied in the hope that the storm may
subside ; and only when frail mortality evinces unequi-
vocal tokens of decay will the relatives consent to unite
its dust with the ashes of a stranger.

It is asserted, but with what truth I cannot pretend
to state, that the inhabitants of Inniskea are prone to
litigation, and a curious legend of a lawsuit is told upon
the mainland, illustrative of this, their quarrelsome
disposition. A century ago, two persons were remark-
able here for superior opulence, and had become the envy

136 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

and wonder of their poorer neighbours. Their wealth
consisted of a flock of sheep, when, unfortunately,
some trifling dispute occurring between them, a disso-
lution of partnership was resolved upon. To divide
the flock, one would suppose, would not be difficult,
and they proceeded to partition the property accord-
ingly. They possessed one hundred and one sheep ;
fifty fell to each proprietor, but the odd one — how was
it to be disposed of ? Neither would part with his
moiety to the other, and after a long and angry nego-
tiation, the animal was left in common property between
them. Although the season had not come round when
sheep are usually shorn, one of the proprietors, requiring
wool for a pair of stockings, proposed that the fleece
should be taken off. This was resisted by his co-partner,
and the point was finally settled by shearing one side
of the animal. Only a few days after the sheep was
found dead in a deep ditch ; one party ascribed the
accident to the cold feelings of the animal having urged
him to seek a shelter in the fatal trench ; while the
other contended that the wool remaining upon one side
had caused the wether to lose its equilibrium, and thus
the melancholy catastrophe was occasioned. The
parties went to law directly, and the expenses of the suit
actually devoured the produce of the entire flock, and
reduced both to a state of utter beggary. Their descen-
dants are pointed out to this day as being the poorest
of the community, and litigants are frequently warned
to avoid the fate of " Malley and Malone."

Notwithstanding the uncertainty of weather in Inniskea
is proverbial, we had no reason to complain. The sun
rose gloriously from the ocean — every cloud vanished
from the rocky pinnacle of Slieve More — a stiff breeze

THE EAGLE'S CLIFF. 137

from the north-west blew steadily, and by nine o'clock
we had embarked our goods and persons ; and with as
much wind as the hooker could carry her three sails to
we ran through the Sound of Devilawn, and bade adieu
to this interesting and hospitable island.

138 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XIX.

IT was evident that the bay was full of mackerel.
In every direction, and as far as the eye could range,
gulls and puffins were collected, and, to judge by their
activity and clamour, there appeared ample employment
for them among the fry beneath. We immediately
bore away for the place where these birds were most
numerously congregated, and the lines were scarcely
overboard when we found ourselves in the centre of
a shoal of mackerel.

The hooker, however, had too much way. We lowered
the foresail, double-reefed the mainsail, and then went
steadily to work. Directed by the movements of the
birds, we followed the mackerel, tacking or wearing the
boat occasionally, when we found that we had overrun
the shoal. For two hours we killed those beautiful
fish as fast as the baits could be renewed and the lines
hauled in ; and when we left off fishing, actually wearied
with sport, we found that we had taken above five
hundred, including a number of the coarser species,
known on this coast by the name of Horse Mackerel.

There is not, on sea or river, always excepting angling
for salmon, any sport comparable to this delightful
amusement. Spillet and long-line fishing are generally
tedious and uninteresting ; and, unless the fish take
freely, it is even with moderate success a tame and
spiritless employment. How different is mackerel
fishing ! — full of life and bustle, everything about it
is animated and exhilarating ; a brisk breeze, a fair
sky, the boat in quick and constant motion, — all is

SIGNS OF FISH. 139

calculated to interest and excite. But hanging for hours
above a spillet, or enduring the drudgery of lowering
and hauling in an almost interminable length of line
over the side of a motionless boat, is an abomination.
Like mud- shooting, this is only work for a peasant, and
should accordingly be excluded from the list of gentle-
manly pursuits, and consigned entirely to those with
whom fishing is a trade ; and profit, not pleasure, the
object of their piscatory occupations. He who has
experienced the glorious sensations of sailing on the
western ocean, a bright autumnal sky above, a deep green
lucid swell around, a steady breeze, and as much of it
as the hooker can stand up to, will estimate the exquisite
enjoyment our morning's mackerel-fishing afforded.

In following the shoal we had crossed the bay, and
got under the Achil shore. Having made sail again,
we stretched over towards the Bull's Mouth, attracted
by an immense play of sea-fowl. It was nearly low
water, and while running past Innisbiggle, we observed
several seals basking on the rocks. One was so curiously
couched among the sea-weed as to render its species
a subject of doubt and discussion, until the close approach
of the boat obliged it to quit the rock, and thus afford
a distinct view while, to use the skipper's phrase, it
wabbled to the water. From the strange and undefined
ideas the seal's first appearance occasioned, accustomed
as we were to see the animal in its varied attitudes of
action or repose, it is not surprising that numerous and
ridiculous extravagances have had their origin in the
Phocse tribe being seen under accidental circumstances
by the wild and credulous peasantry of this remote
district, To these animals, the submarine beings,
who have for ages delighted the lovers of the marvellous,

140 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

may, without much difficulty, be traced ; and many
a wonder-stricken fisherman imagined himself watching
the movements of a mermaid, while all the time he was
only staring at a sea-calf.

A whimsical instance of the credulity of the peasantry
was mentioned by my kinsman. Some years ago a
party engaged in a fishing excursion on the coast came-to
in Achil Sound, and, leaving the boat, took up their
quarters for the night in the priest's house, which was
situated in a neighbouring village. One of the company
was hunch-backed, with a face of singular and grotesque
expression. Having indulged gloriously over-night in
the native beverage, which the honest priest most
liberally supplied, the little gentleman found himself
rather amiss in the morning, and determined to try
what salutary effect the cool sea-breeze might have upon
the fever- warmth his nocturnal revelry had raised.
He left the cabin accordingly, — and the early hour,
with the islanders' celebrity for a simplicity of costume,
induced him to postpone the business of the toilet to a
more convenient season, and to sally forth in perfect
dishabille. For a time he straggled along the shore,
until reaching the point of land which forms the entrance
of Achil Sound, he selected a smooth stone, and deposited
his person among the rocks, to meditate the hour away,
before whose expiry he could not expect that breakfast
would be paraded in the cabin.

It was dead low-water. Half-a-dozen row-boats,
bound for the Fair of Newport, and filled with men and
women, were rowing merrily to the Bull's Mouth,
intending to enter it upon the first of flood. Having
approached close to the spot where the little gentleman
was ensconsed among the seaweed, up popped an

SIGNS OF FISH. 141

outre countenance, surmounted by a scarlet nightcap !
The effect was sudden, for till now a rock had concealed
him from the boats. Instantly the women screamed,
and the men betrayed unequivocal symptoms of dismay.
But when the dwarf, remarking their alarm, skipped
upon the stone, and uttered a wild, unearthly yell,
which reverberated from rock to rock, the boats put
about directly, and abandoned the Fair of Newport ;
men and women, with one consent, made off for their
respective homes as fast as four oars could carry them.
The awful intelligence was promulgated with incredible
rapidity through Erris and Ballycroy. The same
Leprehawn who was seen the year before the French*
had reappeared, to harbinger, no doubt, some local or
national calamity. To this day the credulity of the
islanders has never been disabused, and Tom's uncouth
face and scarlet nightcap are often fearfully expected
to rise over the rocks by the belated fisherman, as he
runs through its dangerous opening to shelter for the
night in Achil Sound.

The Bull's Mouth is rarely entered but with flood-
water or a powerful leading wind ; and the southern
outlet of the Sound at Achil Beg is similarly circum-
stanced. These straits are deep and dangerous, for
through them the waters which flow from Blacksod
and Clew Bay, and fill this extensive channel and its
surrounding estuaries, rush with amazing violence ;
and the rapidity with which the tides enter and recede
is frightful. The opposing currents flow nearly north and
south, and meet and separate at the ruins of an ancient
salt-house. Here, the old mountain-road terminated,

* The landing of the French is a common epoch among the
inhabitants of Ballycroy. Ask a peasant his age and he will probably
tell you, " he was born two or three years before or after the French."

142 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

and at the Farsett — as the ford across the estuary is
termed — the passenger can earliest cross to the island
from the mainland. Indeed, the intercourse with
Achil was in former days limited enough. Few persons,
except those engaged in smuggling, visited this insu-
lated district ; and many an islander lived and died
without having ever seen a town.

The fishing-boats and hookers, whose easy draught of
water will permit it, naturally prefer a passage through
the Sound, when voyaging from Erris to Clew Bay,
rather than the longer and more exposed course of
rounding Achil Head. To effect it, however, requires
some skill, and a strict attention to the tides. On the
Farsett, the depth at high-water seldom exceeds eight
or nine feet : and as the flow and recession of the oppos-
ing waters is astonishingly rapid, the boat must enter
upon one and retire upon the other. The passage, if
effected, is consequently but very short, and the Sound
may be cleared in an hour with the same wind that would
occupy an entire day, if Achil Head were doubled.

In bad weather, both entrances, however, are
dangerous in the extreme, and care and seamanship
are necessary to pass either with safety. The peasantry
are habituated to this voyage, and comparatively little
risk ensues. Still, many accidents have occurred —
small boats have foundered in the attempt — and large
hookers, when deeply laden, have perished in the con-
flicting eddies which opposite winds and tides occasion.
The most cautious boatmen are sometimes overtaken
by squalls from the surrounding hills — and night and
drunkenness have, alas ! been more fatal than all besides.

Yet the Bull's Mouth, like the ordeal of mortal
inquietude, leads to its haven of rest. In a gale from the

SIGNS OF FISH. 143

westward, when the Atlantic tumbles with mountainous
fury into Blacksod Bay, the fishing-boat, once within
the Sound, finds smooth and unbroken water. Hence,
when the weather breaks, the hookers seek its shelter,
there to wait until the storm moderates.

Nor is it to the fisherman alone that the Bull's Mouth
has afforded shelter and protection. Not many years
ago a large American vessel was driven upon the coast
by a continuance of westerly winds, and unable to work
off, was fairly embayed within Blacksod. Shipwreck
appeared inevitable — anchor after anchor was let go,
but the tremendous swell from the ocean parted the
cables, and the vessel drifted rapidly towards the shore.
The wild and rock-bound coast to leeward terrified
the crew, and, in despair, they committed themselves
to their boat, abandoning the ship to her fate. A hooker's
crew, which had been caught by the gale, witnessed
the desertion of the vessel, and, although boarding her
was a service of danger, they determined to attempt her
rescue. They succeeded, and the derelict bark was carried
safely within the Sound.

To the Bull's Mouth also, one of his Majesty's cruisers
was indebted for her deliverance. During the last
American War an enemy's schooner of formidable
force dragooned the coast from Arran to the Stags of
Broad Haven. She landed where she pleased, and
amused herself by burning every coaster that was silly
enough to leave her harbour. In Achil the Fox was
quite at home, — the crew trafficked, danced, and drank
among the islanders, with as much sang-froid as if Paul
Jones had been commander. But this could not last
for ever. Some heavy sloops and brigs were ordered
from the southward, and the Fox was reluctantly obliged

144 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

to disappear. A revenue cruiser, that had been long
blockaded in Westport Bay, took heart and ventured
out. The enemy was out of sight, and with a clear sea,
old Morris rounded Achil Head. When the scarecrow
vanishes, it is marvellous how rapidly one's courage is re-
kindled ; and, too late, the Nepean discovered that the
odds between herself and the privateer were not so des-
perate. In point of men and metal the Fox was indeed
overwhelming, but still, steady discipline and close
fighting might do wonders. Morning dawned — and its
first light showed the infernal Fox but two short miles to
windward! Away went the cutter, and away went the
privateer. With singular audacity the Fox followed
into the Bay, came up hand-over-hand, and gained
upon the cruiser until the long tzvo-and-thirty, which
the Yankee mounted amidships, began to throw its
shot to a most alarming proximity. The Bull's Mouth
was before, and a rakish schooner that, to use a fancy
phrase, " would not be denied," was astern ; — there was
no alternative, and for the first, and most probably the
last time, the King's bunting sought safety within the
Sound of Achil. Finding her water lessen — for she had
actually crossed the Ridge Point before she hauled her
wind — the Fox abandoned the pursuit, and left the Irish
coast for America, where she duly arrived, after a daring
and destructive, but a very unprofitable cruise.

Safely landed at the Lodge, — but all is in an uproar !
Colonel Dwyer, an honoured and expected visitor, has
arrived in safety, but he comes minus his portmanteau,
which some delinquent, neither having the fear of
hanging, or my kinsman's wrath before his eyes,
abstracted from Andy Bawn, to whom its safe delivery
was entrusted. Nothing can surpass the surprise and

SIGNS OF FISH. 145

consternation this event occasions — the women are
clamorous — the men curse fluently in Irish — and, from
the vows of eternal vengeance which are uttered against
the spoliator of the Colonel's wardrobe, I should imagine,
in case of apprehension, that the ceremony of waiting
till the next assizes will be dispensed with. Antony
" remembers the country these seventy years : many
a robbery happened in his time, but — God stand between
him and evil ! — to take a gentleman's property, and he
coming to the master ! — If it was a stranger, why, there
would be no great harm," &c., &c.

Fear and poteein disturb the concatenation of ideas,
and Andy Bawn's is anything but a lucid narrative.
There is a confused account of the Bridge of Bally-
veeney, and a dark man, and the clicking of a gun-cock.
Now it appears that Andy is at feud with a Mr. Burke,
who finished a relative of his with a turj-slane* and in
consequence has deemed it advisable to take to the
mountain until terms can be arranged with the widow.
Meantime, being a gentleman of active disposition,
he occupies his leisure hours upon the highway, and all
parties are unanimous in saddling him with the spolia-
tion of the portmanteau. I am inclined to suspect that
my kinsman hitherto sported deaf-adder to any rumour
of Burke being concealed within his territory — but I
think now the sooner Mr. Burke levants the better.
There is a settled gloom upon my cousin's brow, and
yonder consultation with his foster-brother, my island
friend, bodes the present proprietor of the portmanteau
little good. To intercept a visitor's effects was indeed to

" Beard the lion in his den,
The Douglas in his hall." —

But dinner is announced.

* An implement used for cutting turf, and heads occasionally.

I

146 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

I wish the value of the Colonel's assets could be
ascertained, and that I dared liquidate the amount. An
earthquake, I think, would not have created half the
sensation. My kinsman is dreadfully irate — his feudal
power is shaken to the centre, and either he or Mr.
Burke must leave Ballycroy It is quite evident that he
tacitly permitted the outlaw to conceal himself in this
neighbourhood, and considered that he existed but by
his sufferance. There is a strange dash of barbarism
among the old proprietors still. To hunt a felon down,
who acknowledges the supremacy of the master, would
be infra dignita tern. The good old system would then
be at an end — and, in time, even a bailiff might pass
what has been the Ultima Thule of the law, and live.
My cousin is aware of this. He feels that the rights
and immunities of his modern Alsatia must not be
lightly compromised. His rent-roll may be small,
but he can boast, as Dick Martin did of Connemara,
that " here, thank God ! the King's writ is not worth
a half-penny." Hence, the impudence of Mr. Burke
is intolerable. I remember hearing this word used
in a court of justice in a most curious sense. A man was
on trial, capitally indicted for murder. The chief
witness on his examination detailed the leading incidents
— his being awakened by cries of help, rising, striking a
light, opening his door, and finding a man dead upon
the threshold. " And what did you do next, my
friend ? " interrogated the Crown lawyer. " Why,"
replied the witness, with amazing sang froid, " I called
out, ' Are any of ye there that kilt the boy ? I'll
give a thirteen to him who'll tell me who it was that
had the impudence to murder a man at my door ! ' "
An embassy will be despatched to Mr. Burke, and if the

SIGNS OF FISH. 147

Colonel's wardrobe be not forthwith restored, with full
satisfaction for the insult, I hold the value of the out-
law's life to be not worth a pin's fee.

Indeed, the whole esprit de corps is up — the multi-
tudinous idlers of the Lodge are concocting schemes
of vengeance. The honour of the " ancient house "
is at stake ; and the very women are roused to action.
Old Antony himself is not supine — he does not, like
Diogenes at Sinope, contemplate the general activity
with indifference ; while all besides are turning the
secular arm against the delinquent, the Otter-killer will
call in the assistance of the Church, and, by the blessing
of God, he will have Mr. Burke cursed in two chapels
next Sunday, and in a style, too, that he expects shall
give universal satisfaction to all concerned.

Nor am I, though unassailed in dignity or effects,
upon a bed of roses. Who shall say where this business
will terminate ? We shall exchange deer-shooting for
robber-hunting ; and night and the mountains being
unfavourable to identity of the person, I may be shot
by mistake for an outlaw, or find myself in some ravine
tete-d-tete with Mr. Burke ! I plead guilty to consti-
tutional nervousness, and for the last hour my kinsman
and his visitor have been seeking a parallel case in a
number of outrages, that are quite sufficient to ruin a
man's rest for the winter. What memories they have !
There has not been a house robbed for the last century
with whose localities they are not as well acquainted
as the builder ; and in murder-cases they display an
anatomical experience that is surprising ! Hennessey,
who seldom shows, has been eternally with us since the
cloth was lifted, and having received his final instruc-
tions (I hope), has disappeared. Lord ! the tall, gaunt,
care-worn, homicidal look of the man, as with a double-

148 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

gun across his arm, and a case of pistols projecting from
his coat pockets, he took the wine his patron gave him !
but, " chacun d son gout" — my kinsman would not
lose him for a thousand, while his very look gives me the
horrors ! Even the piper appears to have caught the
general infection : he has been lilting a full hour — not
a jig or strathspey, but love-lorn ditties, and the most
lamentable compositions that ever issued from the
bag or chanter.

Would I were in England again ! for what is matri-
mony to manslaughter ? I have been for a moment out
to breathe the cool sea-breeze, and passing the window
peeped into that refugium peccatorum, the kitchen. The
keeper is flinting a blunderbuss ! There is security in
Terracina contrasted with this cabin, and the Abruzzi
is a land of Goshen compared with the mountains of
Ballycroy ! I wish I were in bed ; and why there —
to dream of everything felonious ! I may as well submit
with Turkish endurance — it is the will of Allah. The
Colonel replenishes the fire, apportioning turf and bog
deal in such scientific proportion, that it is evident that
he is making himself up for a wet evening ; and the cork
our host is now extracting will be merely avant-courier
to three flasks which I see lurking in the cooper. Oh,
that a deputation from the Temperance Society would
drop in ! But why complain ? — 'tis useless. The
Colonel has discharged a bumper to the speedy demo-
lition of Mr. Burke ! Nor has he forgotten to replenish
again. The man is honest — a person that one might
safely drink with in the dark. He clears his throat,
and that cough preliminary is the prologue of a story.
I must, in common courtesy, be attentive. This long
and steady pinch is alarming, and we are on the brink
pf some desperate detail !

THE COLONEL'S STORY. 149

CHAPTER XX.

" IT is thirty-five years this very month since I was

quartered with my regiment in ford ; I recollect

the time particularly, for I got my Company in the
thirty-seventh on the same day that I received an invi-
tation from a Mr. Morden, with whom I had formed
a mail-coach acquaintance, to spend a week with him,
and join his nephew in partridge-shooting. This gentle-
man's house was fourteen miles distant from the town,
and situated in a very retired part of the country. It
was a wild but beautiful residence, placed upon the
extremity of a peninsula, which jutted into an extensive
lake. To a sportsman it offered all the inducements
that shooting and fishing could afford. But it had
others besides these ; no man lived better than Mr.
Morden — and his daughter Emily, and an orphan
cousin, who resided with her, were decidedly the finest
women who had attended the last race-ball. No wonder
then that I accepted the old gentleman's invitation
willingly, and on the appointed day put myself into
a post-chaise, and reached the place in time for dinner.
" The house was one of those old-fashioned, com-
fortable, Irish lodges, which are now extinct, or only
to be seen in ruins. It was a long, low building, covered
with an infinity of thatch, which bade defiance to rain,
cold, and storm. The tall and narrow casements
reached the ground, a handsome flower-knot extended
in their front, bounded by a holly hedge, and woodbine
and other creepers festooned the windows with their leaves
and berries. At some distance a well-stocked haggard
peeped over a spacious range of offices ; the lawn was

150 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

studded with sheep, which appeared overburdened
with good condition ; and as I drove up the avenue,
I passed a well-featured, well-clad simpleton, urging
before him, from a neighbouring stubble-field, a flock
of turkeys as formidable for numbers as for size. In
short, everything about the place bespoke the opulence
and comfort of the proprietor.

" Mr. Morden was a clever and respectable man ;
he was land-agent to several large estates — noted for
plain and unpretending hospitality, punctuality in
business, and a character of unusual determination.

" The old gentleman received me with friendly
sincerity, and his handsome daughter added a warm
welcome. They apologised for not having company
to meet me, but ' two families which they had expected
had been detained by some unforeseen occurrences at
home.' Dinner was shortly after served. Like the
host, it was excellent without display — the wines were
superior — and when the ladies left us, the claret went
round the table merrily.

" ' We are in trouble here,' said Mr. Morden, addres-
sing me, ' and you have come to a house of mourning.
We have just suffered a serious, I may say irreparable,
loss, in the sudden death of two favourite dogs. They
were of the genuine breed of Newfoundland, and for
size, courage, and sagacity, unequalled. Poor Emily
has cried incessantly since the accident.'
" ' Were they stolen ? '

" ' Oh, no ! I wish they were, for that would afford
a hope that chance or money might recover them. No,
Sir, they would not follow a stranger ; alas ! they died
yesterday by poison. We, unfortunately, laid arsenic
in a meal-loft to destroy rats — and yet how the poor

THE COLONEL'S STORY. 151

animals could have got to it is a mystery ; the steward
declares the key never left his possession. I would
give a hundred guineas the meal had been in the bottom
of the lake. By Jove ! no loss, short of the death of
a friend, could have given us all so much uneasiness.
They were my daughter's companions by day and my
protectors at night. Heigh, ho ! — Come, Sir, pass the
wine.' Tears stood in the old gentleman's eyes as he
spoke of his unhappy favourites, and from the valuable
properties of the lost dogs, it was not surprising that their
death occasioned so much regret to the family.

" We joined the ladies in the drawing-room. After
tea Mr. Morden took a bedroom candle, and apologised
for retiring. ' Old habits best suit old people, Captain ;
but I leave you with the ladies, who will sit up till cock-
crow, if you please : ' and bidding us a good-night,
he departed.

" * Emily,' said young Morden, ' you are still thinking
of your favourites ; well, I will ride the country over
till I find you a handsome dog. Julia, hand me that
violin from the piano, and Captain Dwyer will dance
a reel with you and Emily.'

" ' Heavens ! who is at the window ? ' exclaimed
Miss Morden, suddenly ; ' it looked like that nasty
beggarman who has been haunting the house and grounds
these three days. Ah, Wolf and Sailor ! had you been
living, that vagabond would not have ventured here
at this late hour.' Henry Morden had left the room on
hearing his cousin's exclamation, but soon returned,
assuring the lady that the beggar was a creature of her
imagination ; he had searched the shrubbery and
flower-garden, and no mendicant was to be found in
either.

152 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

" The alarm was speedily forgotten, and we danced
reels till supper was announced. The doors were
locked, the windows fastened, the ladies wished us
good-night, and retired to their respective chambers.

" Henry and I remained for some time in the eating-
room ; the clock struck twelve, and young Morden
conducted me to my apartment, and took his leave.

" I felt a strange disinclination to go to bed, and would
have given anything for a book. For temporary employ-
ment, I unlocked my gun-case, put my fowling-piece
together, and examined whether my servant had sent
all necessary apparatus along with me. I opened the
window-curtains. The moon — a full, bright, harvest
moon — was shining gloriously on the lawn and lake :
I gazed on the sparkling surface of the waters till I felt
the chill of the night-breeze ; then, closing the shutters,
reluctantly prepared to undress.

" I had thrown my coat and vest aside, when a distant
crash was heard, and a fearful noise, with oaths and
screams succeeded. I rushed into the corridor, and
encountered a terror-stricken maid-servant running
from the extremity of the passage. Miss Morden
next appeared ; she was in complete dishabille, and had
hastily thrown on a dressing-gown. ' Good God !
Captain Dwyer, what has occurred ? ' A volley from
without prevented a reply, and the crashing of the
windows as the glass was splintered by the bullets
made it unnecessary. ' The house is attacked,' she
said, and then, with amazing self-possession, added,
' There are always loaded guns above the kitchen
fireplace.' We both ran down the corridor, she to alarm
her father, and I to procure a weapon ; young Morden,
armed with a sword, met us. ' The attack is upon the

THE COLONEL'S STORY. 153

kitchen,' he said, hastily ; ' it is our weakest point ;
this way, Captain,' — and we both entered it together.

" There was a bright fire burning on the hearth.
The large window was shattered to pieces, and the idiot
I had noticed on the lawn was standing beside the
ruined casement, armed with a spit, making momentary
passes at the breach, and swearing and bellowing fright-
fully. I leaped upon a table to seize two muskets
which were suspended in the place Miss Morden had
described. I handed one to Henry, when the fire
blazed out suddenly, and discovered me to the banditti
without. Instantly, three or four shots were discharged.
I heard a bullet whistle past my head, and felt something
strike my shoulder like a sharp cut from a whip, as a
slug grazed me slightly — but having secured the gun
I jumped from the table uninjured. We heard Mr.
Morden in the passage — his manner was calm and
collected, as he ordered the servant men to the front of
the house, and dispatched his daughter for ammunition.

" Meanwhile, a dropping fire continued from with-
out— for from within no shot had been returned, as the
robbers sheltered themselves effectually behind the
angles of the offices and the piers of the gates. From
some hurried words we overheard they were arranging
a determined attack.

" ' They will make a rush immediately,' said the
elder Morden, coolly, ' and here comes Emily in good
time ; don't come in, love ! ' — and he took some forty
or fifty cartridges which she had brought in the skirt
of her dressing-gown. Notwithstanding the peril of
our situation I could but not gaze a moment on the white
and statue-looking limbs of this brave and beautiful
girl. ' Go, love, tell John to bring the Captain's gun-

154 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

case from his chamber ; and do you, Emily, watch from
the end window, and if you perceive any movement
that side, apprize us of it here. — Now, my boys, be cool
— I'll give my best horse to him who shoots the first
man. You have a good supply of ammunition, could
we but coax the scoundrels from their shelter — and I'll
try a ruse.' The old gentleman took the idiot's spit,
placed a coat upon it, while Henry and I chose a position
at either side of the broken window. Mr. Morden
raised the garment to the breach ; it was indistinctly
seen from without ; three bullets perforated it, and it

fell. ' He's down, by ! ' roared a robber, exult-

ingly. ' Now, Murphy, now's your time ; smash in
the door with your sledge ! ' Instantly a huge ruffian
sprang from behind a gable, and his rush was so sudden
that he struck twice with shattering force. We heard
the hinges give — we saw the door yielding — and at that
critical moment young Morden 's gun missed fire !
' Curses light upon the hand that loaded it ! ' he cried,
as he caught up an axe and placed himself determinately
before the door, which we expected to be momentarily
driven in. Murphy, perceiving the tremendous effects
of his blows, called to his comrades to ' be ready.' He
stood about five yards from me — the sledge was raised
above his head — and that blow would have shivered
the door to atoms. I drew the trigger — the charge, a
heavy one of duck-shot, passed like a six-pound bullet
through the ruffian's body and he dropped, a dead
man upon the threshold. ' Captain Dwyer,' said Mr.
Morden, calmly, ' the horse is yours I '

" I had now received my own double gun, and gave
the musket I had used so successfully to Henry Morden.
The death of the ruffian with the sledge brought on a

THE COLONELS STORY. 155

heavy fire from his comrades. Between the volleys
they summoned us to surrender, with fearful denun-
ciations of vengeance if we resisted longer. We were
within a few yards of each other, and during the intervals
of the firing, they poured out threats, and we sent back
defiance. — ' Morden, you old scoundrel ! ' exclaimed the
captain of the gang, ' in five minutes we'll have your
heart's blood.' ' No,' was the calm reply, ' I'll live to
see you arrayed in cap and halter.' ' Surrender, or
we'll give no quarter.' — ' Cowardly scoundrel ! come
and try your hand at the sledge ! ' said the old gentle-
man, with a cold and sarcastic smile, as he turned his
eye on me, where I was watching the door, with the
confidence a man feels who has his own trustworthy
weapon to depend upon.

" ' Morden, we'll burn the house about ye.' — ' Will
you put the coal in the thatch, Bulger ? ' — ' Morden,
you have a daughter ! ' and the ruffian pronounced
a horrid threat. The old man shuddered, then in a
low voice, tremulous with rage, he muttered, — ' Bulger,
I'll spare five hundred pounds to hang you, and travel
five hundred miles to see the sight.'

' The coal 1 the coal ! ' shouted several voices, and,
unfortunately, the scoundrels had procured one in the
laundry. ' By heavens ! they will burn us out,' said
Henry, in alarm. ' Never fear ! ' replied his cooler
uncle ; ' the firing must have been heard across the lake,
and we'll soon have aid sufficient.' But a circumstance
occurred, almost miraculously, that averted the
threatened danger. The moon became suddenly over-
cast— heavy rain-drops fell — and in an instant an over-
whelming torrent burst from the clouds, rendering
every attempt the robbers made to ignite the thatch

156 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

abortive. ' Who dare doubt an over-ruling Providence ?'
said the old gentleman, with enthusiasm : surely God
is with us ! '

" The storm which came to our relief appeared to
dispirit our assailants, and their parley recommenced.
' Morden,' said the captain of the banditti, ' you have

Lord 's rent in the house ; give us a thousand

pounds, and we'll go off and leave you.'

" ' All I promise I'll perform,' said the old gentleman,
coldly. ' Bulger, for this night's work you have earned
a halter, and I'll attend and see you hanged.' — ' Dash
in the door,' exclaimed the robber in a fury ; ' we'll have
the old rogue's heart out ! ' A volley of stones rattled
against the door, but produced no effect, and again the
robber parleyed. ' Will you give us a hundred,
Morden ? ' ' Not a sixpence,' was the laconic answer.
Once more stones were thrown, shots discharged, and
threats of vengeance fulminated by the exasperated
villains. At last, the demand was reduced to ' Twelve
guineas — a guinea for each man.' ' They'll be off
immediately,' said the old gentleman ; ' they know
assistance is at hand : would that we could amuse them
for a little longer ! ' But the ruffians were already
moving, and Miss Morden presently announced that
they were embarking, twelve in number, in a boat.
' Now for a parting shot or two,' said Henry Morden.
We picked up a dozen cartridges, and sallied from the
house, as the banditti were pulling hard across the lake.
We opened a quick and well-directed fire, which they
feebly and without effect replied to. While a musket
ball would reach them, we plied them liberally with
shot ; and, as we learned afterwards, mortally wounded
one man, and slightly injured two others. As we

THE COLONEL S STORY. 157

returned to the house, we met some fifty countrymen,
armed with all sorts of rustic weapons coming to our
relief. Without a moment's delay, we launched boats,
and set off to scour the country, and at noon, so prompt
and vigorous had been the pursuit, that six of the gang
including the wounded robbers, were secured.

" We reached ' the Wilderness ' completely exhausted
by the exertions of the morning and the fatigue of the
preceding night. We refreshed ourselves and went to
bed — but previous to returning to my room, I visited
the scene of action. Another blow, even a very slight one,
must have driven in the door ; and in the rush of twelve
desperate ruffians, the chances would have been fearfully
against us. Murphy lay upon his back — he was a
disgusting object. The ground was saturated with blood,
for the charge of heavy shot made as large a wound as
a cannon-bullet would occasion. He was the strongest
brute I ever saw ; not more than five fret eight inches
in height, but his limbs, body, and arms were a giant's ;
he was a blacksmith, — a man of infamous character,
and most sanguinary disposition.

" Our escape from robbery was fortunate indeed ;
Mr. Morden had seven thousand pounds that night in
the lodge, for he had just received the rents of two
estates. It was almost entirely paid in specie — and this
was, of course, known, and induced two desperate bands,
who had kept the adjoining counties in alarm since the
rebellion was suppressed, to unite for the purpose of
robbing ' the Wilderness,' and securing this immense
booty.

" The body of the smith was sent away, and buried
in the jail- yard of the neighbouring town ; and, having
brought the battle to a close, I shall explain some matters
connected with this daring outrage.

158 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

" A man named Mitchell originated the intended
robbery, and arranged the method of attack. He was
a slight, low-sized person, but his activity was amazing,
and no attempt was too hazardous for his desperate
courage to undertake. On the morning of his execu-
tion—(he, with the three others, was hanged at the
subsequent assizes) — he gave us a cool detail of his
plans.

" The dogs were to be destroyed, and the premises
reconnoitred. In the disguise of a beggar he effected
both ; laid meat prepared with arsenic for the poor
animals ; then made his way into the kitchen, and
ascertained that the fastenings of the back-door were
defective. He purposed surprising the family at supper,
or forcing an entrance when they were asleep. The
first attempt he made at the drawing-room, but quickly
perceiving that he had been observed by Miss Morden,
he retired hastily. A council was held by the robbers,
and it was fortunately determined to postpone the
attack until the family had gone to rest.

" Nothing could be bolder, or more likely to succeed,
than Mitchell's desperate resolution. It was to leap
feet foremost through the window, and, armed with a
dagger, to fight his way, if opposed, and open the back
door for his associates. He made the attempt, and
providential circumstances alone prevented its being
successful. That very morning a small iron bar had
been placed across the window ; it caught the robber
in his leap, threw him back with violence, and the noise
united to the outcries of the idiot, alarmed the family
instantly.

" Circumstances, they say, will often make men coura-
geous. In this case it had the same effect on two beings

THE COLONEL'S STORY. 159

of a very different description — a lovely girl and an
idiot boy. Miss Morden, throughout the trying scene,
displayed the coolest courage ; and the poor simpleton,
who commonly would avoid the appearance of a gun,
armed with his spit, defended the breach like a hero.

" We met at dinner. Julia, Miss Morden's cousin,
would hardly venture to join us, for her brother rated
her timidity severely. When the alarm was heard,
the fearful girl buried her face beneath the bed-coverings,
and remained in pitiable agitation until the contest
ended. Mr. Morden took her from his daughter's
arm, kissed her, and congratulated her on their
delivery from the last night's danger.

1 You little coward ! ' said the old man, jocularly ;
' you must give your deliverer one kiss at least for
your preservation.' The blushing girl received my
salute. Miss Morden took my hand. * You, too,
Emily, will you not reward your protector ? ' Without
coquetry, she laid her lips to mine, and that kiss was a
sufficient recompense for twice the peril I had
encountered.

" But for me no praises seemed sufficient : the suc-
cessful defence was attributed to my exertions ; and the
fortunate shot that killed the villain smith was never
to be sufficiently commended.

" My visit ended. / was in love with Emily ; but
then I had little chance of succeeding to the property
which afterwards, by a chapter of accidents, fell to me ;
and a company of foot was all my earthly riches. She
was an heiress ; and would it be generous to take advantage
of a casual service to press a suit that would be as painful
to refuse as unlikely to be granted ? I mean (so says
vanity) by 'Mr. Morden. No ! I overcame the temp-

l6o WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

tation of risking a trial, and returned to ford, posses-
sing the esteem and good wishes of every inhabitant
of ' the Wilderness.'

" I was on parade some mornings after I rejoined
the regiment, when a horse, splendidly accoutred with
a superb tiger-skin, holsters, saddle, and every housing
fit for a field officer, was led into the barrack- yard by
a groom. The animal was a perfect picture of symmetry
and strength ; a dark chestnut, sixteen hands high, and
worth, at least, two hundred guineas. The groom pre-
sented me a letter ; it was from Mr. Morden — the horse
was a present.

" Emily and her cousin married most happily, and we
have often met since. They treat me as sisters would
a brother ; and we frequently talk of the night attack
upon ' the Wilderness.'

" Three years passed away ; the gang had been
incessantly followed by Mr. Morden, and were extir-
pated with the solitary exception of Captain Bulger.
Dreading the sleepless vengeance of that determined old
man, this ruffian fled the country, and established
himself in a disaffected district of the south.

" In the interim I got a majority in the Seventieth,
then quartered in Cork. Soon after I joined, I happened
to be field officer of the day on which a notorious
criminal was doomed to suffer. The regiment had given
a guard, and curiosity induced me to attend the execu-
tion.

" I entered the press-room. In a few minutes the
malefactor appeared in white grave-clothes, attended by
two priests. It was ' mine ancient enemy,' Bulger !
Suddenly the Sheriff was called out, and after a short
Absence returned, accompanied by a plain, vigorous

THE COLONEL'S STORY. 161

country gentleman, enveloped in a huge driving-coat,
and apparently like one who had travelled a consider-
able distance.

" I looked at the criminal ; he was the ruin of a power-
ful man, and the worst-visaged scoundrel imaginable.
He was perfectly unmoved, and preserved a callous sort
of hardiesse ; and as the priests hurried over their Latin
prayers, made a careless response whenever they
directed him. The door leading to the drop was open,
and the felon looked out upon the crowd most earnestly.
' He is not there,' he murmured : ' he caused my appre-
hension, but he will not see me die' ; and added, with
a grim smile, ' Morden, you neither kept your word, nor
proved your prophecy ! ' The muffled stranger stood
suddenly forward : ' / am here, Bulger ! I paid for
your apprehension, and have come some hundred miles
to witness your execution I '

' ' Morden,' said the dying felon, solemnly, ' if a
ghost can come back again, /'// visit you ! '

" The person addressed smiled coldly : ' I found
you unable to execute your threats while living, and,
believe me, I apprehend nothing from you when dead.'
" The clock struck — the sheriff gave the signal —
Bulger advanced to the scaffold — the drop fell, and in
two minutes he was a corpse."

1 62 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXI.

" WELL, I like a man to keep his word," said my
relative ; " and I admire your friend Morden pro-
digiously for his punctual attendance on Mr. Bulger,
when he made his parting bow to an admiring multi-
tude, and, as the song goes, ' died with his face to the
city.' "

" There is little danger, after all," said the Colonel,
"to be apprehended from ruffian force, if a man's
nerve and coolness desert him not at the pinch. In house
attacks, the odds are infinitely against the assailants.
The attempt is generally made in the dead of night ;
a robber-party are never sufficiently organised to combine
their efforts judiciously, and two men within, if properly
armed and plentifully supplied with ammunition, are,
in my opinion, an overmatch for a dozen outside the
doors."

" Calm and steady courage does wonders, certainly ;
and, even when surprised and unprepared, a cool man will
rarely be left without some means of defence. The
Scotch proverb is a true saw — ' A gleg (ready) hand
never wanted weapon.' "

" There never was a better illustration of that truth
than the heroic resistance offered by an aged gentleman
in the south to a band of ruffians, under most discouraging
circumstances. I knew him intimately," continued the
Colonel ; " and I'll briefly give you the story.

" Several years ago, when the south of Ireland was,
as it has ever been within my memory, in a disturbed
state, a gentleman, advanced in years, lived in a retired

A BRAVE RESISTANCE. 163

country-house. He was a bachelor ; and whether
trusting to his supposed popularity, or imagining that
the general alarm among the gentry was groundless,
he continued in his lonely mansion long after his neigh-
bours had deserted theirs for a safer residence in town.
He had been indisposed for several days ; and on the
night he was attacked had taken supper in his bedroom,
which was on the ground-floor, and inside a parlour
with which it communicated. The servants went to
bed ; the house was shut up for the night ; and the
supper-tray, with its appurtenances, by a providential
oversight, forgotten in the old man's chamber.

" Some hours after he had retired to bed, he was
alarmed at hearing a window lifted in the outer apart-
ment ; his chamber door was ajar, and the moon shone
brilliantly through the open casement, rendering objects
in the parlour distinct and perceptible to any person
in the inner room. Presently a man leaped through
the window, and three others followed him in quick
succession. The old gentleman sprang from his bed,
but unfortunately there were no arms in the apartment.
Recollecting, however, the forgotten supper-tray, he
provided himself with a case-knife, and resolutely took
his stand behind the open door. He had one advantage
over the murderers — they were in full moonlight, and
he shrouded in impenetrable darkness.

" A momentary hesitation took place among the party,
who seemed undecided as to which of them should first
enter the dark room ; for, acquainted with the localities
of the house, they knew well that there the devoted
victim slept. At last one of the villains cautiously
approached, stood for a moment in the doorway,
hesitated, advanced a step — not a whisper was heard,

164 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

a breathless silence reigned around, and the apartment
before him was dark as the grave itself. ' Go on, blast
ye ! What the devil are ye ajeerd of ! ' said the rough
voice of an associate behind. The robber took a second
step, and the old man's knife was buried in his heart !
No second thrust was requisite, for, with a deep groan,
the villain sank upon the floor.

" The obscurity of the chamber, the sudden destruc-
tion caused by that deadly thrust, prevented the ruffians
in the outer room from knowing the fate of their com-
panion. A second presented himself, crossed the
threshold, stumbled against his dead associate, and
received the old man's knife in his bosom. The wound,
though mortal, was not so fatal as the other : and the
ruffian had strength to ejaculate that he was ' a dead
man ! '

" Instantly several shots were fired, but the old
gentleman's position sheltered him from the bullets.
A third assassin advanced, levelled a long fowling-piece
through the doorway, and actually rested the barrel
against the old man's body. The direction, however,
was a slanting one, and, with admirable self-possessioa,
he remained steady until the murderer drew the trigger,
and the ball passed him without injury. But the flash
from the gun unfortunately disclosed the place of his
ambush, and then commenced a desperate struggle.
The robber, a powerful and athletic ruffian, closed
and seized his victim round the body ; there was no
equality between the combatants with regard to strength ;
and although the old man struck often and furiously
with his knife, the blows were ineffectual, and he was
at last thrown heavily on the floor, with the murderer
above him. Even then, at that awful moment, his

A BRAVE RESISTANCE. 165

presence of mind saved this heroic gentleman. He
found that the blade of the knife had turned, and he
contrived to straighten it upon the floor. The ruffian's
hands were already on his throat — the pressure became
suffocating — a few moments more, and the contest
must have ended ; but an accidental movement of his
body exposed the murderer's side : the old man struck
with his remaining strength one desperate blow — the
robber's grasp relaxed — and, with a yell of mortal
agony, he fell dead across his exhausted opponent !

" Horror-struck by the death-shriek of their comrade,
the banditti wanted courage to enter that gloomy chamber
which had been already fatal to so many. They poured
an irregular volley in, and leaping through the open
window, ran off, leaving their lifeless companions
behind.

" Lights and assistance came presently — the chamber
was a pool of gore — and the old man, nearly in a state
of insensibility, was covered with the blood and encom-
passed by the breathless bodies of his intended mur-
derers. He recovered, however, to enjoy for years
his well-won reputation, and to receive from the Irish
Viceroy the honour of knighthood, which never was
conferred before upon a braver man."

1 66 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE springs have commenced, and the gray and lower-
ing atmosphere which the influence of these tides
occasion has set in. Although the darkness would
intimate a change, the fresh breeze and sky appearances
portend, as they tell me, good weather.

We are bound for the bay to lay down spillets ; and
during the tedious interval which of necessity occurs
before they can be lifted, we shall kill coal-fish, shoot
sea-gulls, smoke cigars, and, no doubt, have a further
detail of atrocities from the Colonel, which would put
the Newgate Calendar to the blush.

The mainsail is chalk-up, — the hooker has slipped
her cables, and hangs by a single end to the pier, — and
we are waiting for a row-boat, which four sturdy peasants
propel with might and main from the opposite shore.
There is a man in the stern sheets who engrosses the
undivided attention of my cousin and his followers.
The boat approaches, and " Blessed iMary ! can it be ? "
there sit Hennessey and the Colonel's portmanteau !
The embassy has succeeded, the bustle of the boatmen
is commensurate to the importance of the freight, and
they give way in the full consciousness that they carry
" Caesar and his saddle-bags."

Mr. Burke has made the amende honorable ; my
cousin looks two inches taller, and hints slyly that feudal
power in Ballycroy is not yet extinct ; and well he may,
for the Colonel's chattels are uninjured — no rude hand
has undone a buckle — not a shirt is wanting, or even the
fold of a neck-cloth disarranged. There is a mysterious

SPILLET-FISHING. 1 67

whispering between the ambassador and Pattigo ; the
commander rejoices over his wardrobe ; my kinsman
looks " every inch a king " ; and I am probably the
happiest of all, for I trust that the pleasant narratives
which for two nights robbed me of my rest, like " the
thousand and one " of Scheherazade, have at last drawn
to a close.

Did a man wish to moralise upon the unrealities of
human expectations, let him hang over a spillet, and be
interested in its success. Conceive an eternity of line
with a thousand hooks at given distances — as every
snoud is placed a fathom apart, a person less conversant
with figures than Joe Hume may guess the total. This
endless continuity of hemp must be carefully taken up.
Do it slowly, and the thing is worse than a penance to
Lough Dergh ; and if you attempt rapidity, the odds are
that the back-line breaks, and a full hour will scarcely
remedy the mischief.

It would puzzle a philosopher to determine the state
of affairs in ten-fathom water ; and if you shoot in foul
ground, you will probably lose the spillet, or with a
world of labour disentangle a moiety from rocks and
sea-weed. Should it, however, have escaped those
casualties, after a two hours' probation, while you listen
to a Drimindhu* from the skipper, and the exact state of
the herring-market from the crew, you proceed to raise
it. Up it comes — that vibratory motion announces that
a fish is fast upon the snoud ; conjecture is busily at
work, and there is a difference of opinion, whether
" the deceived one " be a codling or red-gurnet. It
appears — a worthless, rascally dog-fish ! A succession
of line comes in — starfish, and " few and far between,"
* A melancholy Irish ditty.

1 68 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

some solitary plaices and flounders — at last a victim —
heavy and unresisting. An indistinct glance of a dark
object, broad as a tea-tray, brings the assistant spilleteer,
gaff in hand, to the quarter. Alas ! the turbot in expec-
tation turns out to be a ray ! Often have 1 shot a spillet
under favourable circumstances, and in approved ground,
and lost time, hooks, and snouds, and my whole reward
was a boat-load of skates and dog-fish

We ran quickly with a leading wind to the fishing-
bank, and having shot the spillets — a tedious thing
enough — stood for a rocky part of the coast, where the
coal-fish are always abundant. This water-sport (viz.,
coai-fishing) is unknown " to the many," and yet to
him whose hands are not unacquainted with rope and
oar, it affords, at times, an admirable amusement.

The coal-fishing requires a stiff breeze, and if there be
a dark sky it is all the better. In its detail, it is perfectly
similar to mackerel-fishing, only that the superior size
of the coal-fish makes stronger tackle and a heavier lead
indispensable.

An eel of seven or eight inches long is the bait. The
head being removed, the hook is introduced as in a
minnow, and the skin brought three or four inches up
the snoud. This latter is a fine line of two or three
fathoms' length, affixed to the trap-stick and lead,
the weight of which latter is regulated by the rate of
sailing.

The coal-fish, in weight, varies from two to fourteen
pounds ; it is finely shaped, immensely rapid, uniting
the action of the salmon with the voracity of the pike.
If he miss his first dash, he will follow the bait to the
stern of the boat, and I have often hooked them within
a fathom of the rudder.

SPILLET-FISHING. 169

Four or five knots an hour is the best rate of sailing
for killing coal-fish, and upon a coast where they are
abundant, the sport at times is excellent.

Like the pike, the coal-fish is very indifferent to the
tackle used, which is generally very coarse. Not so
the mackerel ; he requires much delicacy of line and
bait to induce him to take.

In light winds, or when the fish are out of humour, I
have killed mackerel by substituting a salmon casting-
line of single gut for the hempen snoud commonly
employed by fishermen, which, with a newly-cut bait of
phosphoric brilliancy commonly overcame his resolve
against temptation. But there are times when a change
of weather, or some inexplicable phenomena of sea or
sky, renders these fish dull and cautious ; for usually
it requires but trifling art to kill them.

A little experience is necessary. The bait must be
cut from the freshest mackerel, and assimilated in size
and shape to the herring-fry, which they generally
follow ; and the way of the boat must be so regulated
as to preserve the deception by a sufficient velocity,
without breaking, by its rapidity, the mackerel's hold.
The mouth of this fish is particularly tender ; and if
care be not taken, many will drop from the hook before
they can be secured on board.

Unaccustomed to the painful effects which friction
and salt water occasion hands unused to hemp, I trans-
ferred my line to an idle boy who proved a much more
fortunate coal-fisher than I, notwithstanding the
instructions of my friend Pattigo.

We were bearing down to a glorious play of sea-
birds, and I got a gun uncased to practise at the gulls.
It was a curious and bustling scene. Above, thousands

1 70 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

of these birds were congregated in a small circle, scream-
ing, and rising, and dipping over a dense mass of fry,
which appeared at times breaking the surface of the water,
while grebes and puffins of many varieties were perse-
cuting those unhappy sprats underneath. As we bore
down I fired at a few straggling puffins. Some were
missed, some disabled, but not a clean-killed bird !
The great body of sea-fowl appeared so much engrossed
with their predatory pursuits, as to neither attend to the
reports of the gun, or notice the approach of the hooker,
until the boat's bolt-sprit seemed almost parting this
countless host of floating and flying plunderers.

Bent on destruction, I waited until we cleared the ball,
and reached that happy distance when the charge should
open properly. Pattigo estimated the shot would,
moderately, produce a stone of feathers. I fired ; a
solitary gull dropped in the water, and half-a-dozen
wounded birds separated from the crowd, and went
screaming off to sea. The failure was a melancholy
one. I sank immeasurably in the estimation of the
crew as an artiste. Pattigo 's bag of feathers was but
an unrealised dream — while my kinsman muttered
something about the best single he ever possessed — and
I, to cover my disgrace, occupied myself with
reloading

'' I can't congratulate you on your gunnery," said
my cousin, " although I must admit that it required some
ingenuity to avoid accidents among the crowd. But
give me the gun. — and here comes a victim," he con-
tinued, as a huge, grey gull, reckless of danger, wheeled
as they will do, round and round a wounded companion.

" I would not be in his coat for half the hooker,"
said Pattigo, in a stage whisper.

SPILLET-FISHING. iyi

" The Lord look to him ! " exclaimed another boat-
man, " if it be not a sin to pray for a bird."

" He shall not carry his life to the water," rejoined
the Master, as he laid the barrel to his eye.

But, notwithstanding prayer and prophecy, the gull
merely parted a few feathers, and flew off, to all appear-
ance, with little injury.

" By everything blind ! " exclaimed my kinsman,
" the gun must have been charged with sawdust. Ha !
let's see the flask ! Frank, Frank, thou art a careless
gunner ; the powder is not worth one farthing."

It was true. I had forgotten my flask in the pocket
of a wet cota more* and consequently the powder was
spoiled.

Nothing puzzles me more, with the exception of
keeping the Sheriff at a distance, than preserving gun-
powder, and preventing my arms from rusting ; and it
is incredible how soon the humidity of this climate
spoils the one, and causes the other.

" My grand magazine is a sort of basket, secured
with a lid and padlock, and covered with a sheep-skin,
which, like the coffin of Mahomet, hangs suspended
between sky and earth, from the couples of the kitchen.
This disposition secures it alike against damp and acci-
dent. My arms give me an infinity of trouble, but by
a weekly inspection I manage to keep all in order.

"It is marvellous how quickly, even with moderate
care, powder spoils. With my attention 1 experience
little inconvenience, as 1 always warm my flask by
plunging it in boiling water before 1 take the field.
This renders the powder sufficiently dry, without

*Anglice, great -coat.

172 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

deteriorating from its strength, which exposure to a
stronger heat will inevitably occasion.

" By the way, I have had more actual experience in
this necessary article than was exactly agreeable. Come,
we will bear away for the Lodge, and as the Colonel
is immersed in ' The Packet,' and deep in the debate,
I will give you the particulars. In powder I am not
' ignarus mail' for I blew mys&lf up, or made an excellent
attempt, — and burned a cabin to the very ground.

" Both tales are briefly told. We were on a Christmas
visit, when, a slight fall of snow having taken place over-
night, the host proposed that I, and Captain H

of the yth Dragoons, should go out and shoot snipes
among the numerous drains by which his lawn was
irrigated. Guns were procured, but only one powder-
flask was attainable, and it was to be a partnership
concern. For this purpose it was large enough in all
conscience, being an old-fashioned horn, bound with
brass, and capable of holding a pound of powder. We
filled it to the top. At a short distance from the house,
a snipe sprang unexpectedly — I killed it — and in attempt-
ing to reload, the charge ignited in the barrel, and the
horn blew up in my hand. My clothes were reduced
to tinder, my hat scorched, my hair and eyebrows
burned off, but, excepting a slight cut in my hand,
otherwise I was perfectly uninjured. Not a fragment
of the flask, but one shattered piece of horn, could be found

upon the unbroken surface of the snow. H , who was

about one hundred yards distant from me, described the
explosion as louder than the report of a nine-pounder ;
yet, to me, the noise seemed trifling. Was not this
escape miraculous ?

" The second explosion, in which I perpetrated arson,

SPILLET-FISHING. 173

occurred some ten miles up the river. By some unhappy
mischance, 1 took out a flask of condemned powder, and
the accident was not discovered until it was too late
to be remedied. To dry the powder was the alter-
native ; and we repaired for this purpose to the only
house within four miles of the place, a shieling occupied
by an old herdsman and his wife.

41 The powder was spread upon a wooden platter, and
laid at a sufficient distance from the fire ; and while I
stirred it with a ramrod at a distance, one of my atten-
dants conceived it a fitting opportunity to roast a cast
of potatoes in the embers Both operations went forward
successfully. The powder was almost dry — the potatoes
nearly roasted, when my follower ingeniously con-
trived to introduce a coal into the loose powder. This
incident, though trifling in itself, made an immediate
alteration in affairs. The roof of the cabin was dry
as tinder, while tow, flax, and other combustible matters,
were stored immediately above the hearth. In a moment
all was in flames — the potato-roaster blown into the
corner, and I, either by fear or gunpowder, capsized
in another direction.

" The agony of the poor old woman who, fortu-
nately, was outside the hovel when the explosion took
place, was pitiable. In five minutes her cabin was a
ruin — and to her that wretched shieling was worth a
marble palace. For a time she could not be pacified.
In vain she was assured ' that the master would build
her a new house, wider, and bigger, and warmer, ay, and
that should have a wooden door I ' but, like another
Rachel, she mourned, and refused to be comforted.

" Two or three days removed her sorrow, I sent
assistance, and, progressing, like another Aladdin, the

174 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

cabin rose, Phoenix-like, from its ashes. It is now the
envy of the passing traveller ; and as the old couple close
their wooden door at night, they pray for the Master's
long life, and bless God that ' a pound of powder blew
up at their fire-side/

" But see ! old John's signal flies at the flag-staff.
In with that endless spillet, Pattigo ! Pshaw I red
gurnets, codlings, flat-fish, with skates and rays eter-
nally. Now, out reefs — on with the big jib — nay, my
dear Colonel, I am commander. Ease away the sheets.
Ha ! she stoops to it ! Hish ! she travels. Carry on,
Pattigo — the Colonel is aboard, ' Ccesarem vehis / '
She does scrape the sand a little ; but we are fairly over
the bar — John's dinner signal would make any man
a hero."

GUNS AND GUN-MAKING. 175

CHAPTER XXIII

IT was nearly dark, but the night was calm and warm.
I stole from the heated room to indulge in a luxurious
smoke al fresco ; and seated upon the wall of the little
pier puffed away in Turkish indolence. The swell
upon the bar was particularly distinct, as in successive
falls, the wave burst upon the sands, and ran hissing up
the beach, till its volume of water broke and subsided.
The tide was almost out, and the river which forms the
channel of the estuary would hardly reach beyond the
knee ; and I thought of the singular contrast that existed
between the quiet stream, now scarcely a stone's throw
over, and the fierce and lowering water which a westerly
gale forces in, rushing every moment with increased
violence from the ocean, and threatening to burst over
bank and rock that opposed a barrier to its rage. My
musings were, however, speedily interrupted ; voices
came towards me from opposite directions, and loud and
frequent laugh replied to rustic badinage and youthful
romping. My cousin joined me, and from him I ascer-
tained that the jolly parties who seemed everywhere
scattered over the sands beyond the river were the
village girls assembled to collect sand-eels, an employment
they would pursue till the returning tide filled the estuary
again. A little flat punt, which the servants use for
bringing spring water from the bent banks, was speedily
placed upon the river, and we pushed over to the opposite
strand, and found ourselves surrounded by several
hundreds of the young villagers of both sexes, who were
busily engaged in this curious species of night-fishing.

176 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

The sand-eels are generally from four to nine inches
in length, and lie beneath the surface seldom deeper
than a foot. The method of taking them is very simple ;
it is effected by passing a case-knife or sickle with a
blunted edge quickly through the sands ; and by this
means the fish is brought to the surface, and its phos-
phoric brilliancy betrays it instantly. At the particular
times during the summer months when these eels run
in upon the estuary, quantities sufficient to fill several
barrels have been collected during a night. When
dressed the fish is reckoned by the peasantry a great
delicacy, but to my taste it is much too strong. But
they are sought after for other purposes ; from the
particular brilliancy of the skin they make an admirable
bait for flat-fish ; and hence a spillet-settee prefers
them to every other kind, as they are much more durable
than the lug,* and infinitely preferable to eels of a
coarser size.

A crowd of a more youthful description of the
peasantry are collected every spring-tide to gather
cockles on the same sands by daylight when the tide
answers. The quantities of these shell-fish thus pro-
cured would almost exceed belief ; and I have frequently
seen more than would load a donkey collected during
one tide by the children of a single cabin. They form a
valuable and wholesome addition to the limited variety
that the Irish peasant boasts at his humble board ; and
afford children, too young for other tasks, a safe and useful
employment.

Indeed, its plentiful supply of shell-fish may be
enumerated among the principal advantages which
this wild coast offers to its inhabitants. Along the

* The sand -worm used by fishermen.

GUNS AND GUN-MAKING. 177

cliffs, whether in the islands or on the main, lobsters
are found in abundance ; and if the peasantry possessed
the necessary means for prosecuting the fishery, it might
at times afford them a lucrative employment. But,
simple as the apparatus is, they do not possess it ; and
the lobsters obtained by sinking pots and baskets in the
deep sea are taken by strangers, who come for this
purpose from a considerable distance. Those lulled
by the islanders are only procurable at low springs,
when the ebbing of the water beyond its customary
limits permits caves and crannies in the rocks being
investigated, which, in ordinary tides, could not be
entered.

Crabs are found on this coast of considerable size
and sufficiently numerous. Like the lobsters, they are
only accidentally procured ; but there is no doubt
but a large supply could be obtained if proper means
were employed to take them.

The most esteemed of all the shell-fish tribe by the
western fishermen is the scallop, which here is, indeed,
of very superior size and flavour. They are commonly
found by the oyster dredgers in deep water ; and are
estimated so highly as a luxury, as to cause their being
transferred to the next gentleman who may have been
serviceable to the peasant who finds them, or whose
future favour it may be advisable to propitiate. Indeed,
in former days, and those, too, not very distant from
our own times, to approach a justice of the peace without
" a trifle for his honour" would be an offence of passing
magnitude ; a basket of chickens, a cleave of scallops,
or an ass-load of oysters, harbingered the aggriever and
the aggrieved. If these formulae were not duly attended
to, the fountain of law was hermetically sealed ; and a

M

178 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

house functionary — for all the servants on the estab-
lishment were " four pound constables " — announced
that " his honour would do no justice," and bundled
off the applicant to someone more approachable of his
Majesty's numerous and poor esquires.

The oysters found in the bays and estuaries along
this coast are of a very superior quality ; and their
quantity may be inferred from the fact that on the shores
where they are bedded, a turf-basket large enough to
contain six or seven hundred can be filled for a six-
pence. A couple of men will easily, and in a few hours,
lift a horse-load ! — and, notwithstanding the numbers
carried off by sailing-boats from Clare and Munster,
the stock appears to be little reduced by the constant
dredging. There are besides these, other shell-fishes
greatly prized by the peasantry, but which I had never
had the curiosity to eat, such as razor-fish, clams, and
various kinds of mussels. These occasionally make
a welcome change in the otherwise unvarying
potato diet ; and, better still, employ the idler members
of the family, whose youth or age unfits them for more
laborious exertions.

We dallied so long among the fairer portion of the
sand-eel fishers, that the tide insensibly rose ; and when
we reached the place where our punt had been secured,
we discovered that the water had crept up the sands,
and floated the frail skiff away. To hail and get a boat
from the Lodge, from the calmness of the night, was
readily effected ; and while it was being launched down
the beach, my kinsman told me that it was not the first
time that the treacherous punt had played truant to
its crew.

" On a stormy evening one of the boatmen was ordered

GUNS AND GUN-MAKING. 179

to cross the estuary for spring-water, and set out
accordingly for a supply, accompanied by a wild-looking
and nondescript animal who infests the premises,
who is known to the establishment by the name
of ' Ackil' The river was flooded, the evening stormy,
and Peeterein, after leaving his coadjutor in strict charge
of the skiff, set off to fill his water vessels, and to return,
if possible, before the dusk had fallen into darkness.
Achil, as the evening was chilly, lay down in the bottom
of the skiff to shelter himself from the piercing east
wind ; and, in place of keeping watch and ward like
an able mariner, composed himself to sleep. Mean-
while the river rose fearfully ; the breeze freshened
into a gale ; and when Peeterein hurried back with his
water- vessels, he had the satisfaction of seeing the punt
half-a-mile down channel hurrying as fast as a flooded
river and a freshening storm could urge it to the bar,
which now broke in thunder. I had been shooting
on this side, and reached the strand while Peeterein
was hallooing for assistance. A boat was rapidly
despatched — the skiff, when its destruction appeared
inevitable, was overtaken, and Achil found as comfort-
ably asleep as if he were in his accustomed crib in the
barn. The ebullitions of Peeterein *s sorrow, while the
fate of skiff and boy was still uncertain, astonished me ;
and when I saw the punt in tow, I observed that as the
boy was recovered, he might now cease his lamentations.
— ' The Lord be blessed ! there she is : another minute
would hare made noggin-staves of her ! Arrah ! and
did ye think it was Achil I was frettin' after — the devil
pursue him for an unlucky member ! No, faith — I
was in sore distress, for my brother's shoes were aboard ! ' '
We were assembled round the breakfast-table this

l8o WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

morning, and it was a questionable affair whether we
should pass the forenoon in the warren, or shoot a spillet
on the banks, when the conclave was dissolved by one
of those incidental alarms that diversify the rustic
monotony of our commonplace existence. The spring-
tide had left the channel nearly dry, and except in some
deep pools, the water was but ankle-deep. Into one
of these an unlucky seal had been seduced in pursuit
of a salmon, and his retreat was cut off before he was
aware that his ill-timed chasse would cause his ruin.
On his being discovered, a host of cockle-gatherers
formed across the neck of the hole, while a breathless
courier brought the tidings to the Lodge. Instantly
all was bustle ; a salmon-net was procured, and the whole
of the " Dramatis Personae," even to the Colonel and the
Priest, were speedily armed with divers and deadly
implements. Old Antony had hobbled off at the first
alarm, and, by the prudent plan of taking time by the
forelock, managed to be the first man at the scene of
action. It was a deep and rather an extensive pool,
and the unfortunate seal absconded to the place most
likely to afford concealment till the flood-tide should
liberate him from the hand of his enemies. But, alas !
they were many and malignant ; and, driven from his
deepest and last retreat, to avoid being meshed in the
net, he was forced upon the shoal, when an otter-
spear, struck to the socket of the grains by the vigorous
arm of Hennessey, killed him without a struggle. When
the net was brought ashore, the moiety of a large salmon
remained in the meshes, and told the errand which in-
duced the defunct seal to commit himself to the faithless
shoals which proved so fatal to him.

This is, indeed, a day of incidents. Dinner was just

GUNS AND GUN-MAKING. l8l

removed, when, on the top of flood, a coast-guard galley
ran in with a leading breeze from the westward. The
very elegant proportions of the boat, the happy attitude,
the snowy whiteness of her large lugs, as, with the
favourable light which a sunless but clear blue sky
gave, she rounded the headland, and came up like a
race-horse to the pier, had called our undivided attention
to her arrival. While conjecture was busy as to what
her business might be, we observed a man with his arm
slung in a handkerchief, and apparently in considerable
pain, leave her. The cause was soon ascertained, for
a serious accident had occurred, and we all adjourned
to the kitchen, where Antony was already occupied
with the wound.

It appeared that a gun, with which the poor fellow
had been shooting rabbits, had burst and shattered his
hand ; and when I saw the whole of the palm sadly
lacerated, and the thumb attached by a small portion
of the muscles, I really feared to save it was a hopeless
task. But Antony and my kinsman thought differently.
The old man bound the wound up with a professional
neatness that I could not have expected from him ;
the patient was accommodated in the Lodge, and in a
fortnight the galley again returned, to bring him,
thoroughly convalescent, to his station.

I had some curiosity to examine the unlucky gun
that caused the mischief. There was a longitudinal
rent along the barrel, of seven or eight inches, termi-
nating where the left hand usually grasps the stock.
There had, no doubt, been a deep flaw in the inside of
the metal ; for the wounded man declared that he had
not loaded the gun beyond the customary charge.

It proved to be one of those wretched affairs which

1 82 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

are constantly smuggled into Ireland, and sold under
the denomination of London guns, but which, it is well
known, are fabricated in Birmingham ; and the extent
to which this dangerous imposition upon public safety
is carried would scarcely be credited. There is a
constant demand in this unhappy country for fire-arms ;
the well-affected and disaffected seek them for very
different purposes ; — one wants them for defence, the
other requires them for aggression ; and every steamer
that arrives from Liverpool has generally some stands
of contraband arms on board.

When a gun begins to exhibit symptoms of having
done its work, the sooner a man discards it the better.
An injured barrel, or enfeebled lock, may prove fatal
to the owner or his associates. Accidents every day
occur, and very lamentable consequences arise from a
culpable neglect in retaining arms that should be declared
unserviceable, and, of course, disused.

I had once a favourite gun, which, from constant wear
and tear, exhibited unequivocal weakness in the lock,
and which I had been earnestly recommended by a
veteran sportsman to discard. On a cold and rainy day

I was with my friend, O'M , shooting woodcocks

in the heath, and having sprung several, which, from
the severity of the weather, were as wild as hawks, we
marked them into a ravine, and determined to tie up the
dogs, and endeavour to steal upon them. To keep my
gun dry, I placed it under the skirt of my jacket, with the
muzzle pointing downwards. My companion and our
attendant were busy coupling the dogs, when the gun

exploded, and the charge passed between O'M 's

bosom and the back of a dog he was in the act of securing,
buried itself at the foot of the keeper, covering him with

GUNS AND GUN-MAKING. 183

mud and gravel, From the close manner in which we
were all grouped, how the shot could have entered the
ground, without killing men or dogs, or both, was
miraculous. I was desperately frightened, and from
that moment foreswore, for ever, the use of weakened
locks and attenuated barrels.

184 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXIV.

I VERILY believe that no people upon earth are more
easily satisfied in roads than the natives in Ballyveeney.
A narrow strip of rough gravel along the sea-beach — a
mountain watercourse, tolerably disencumbered of its
rocks, or practicable passage across a bog, provided it
be but fetlock deep, are considered by the inhabitants
of this wild peninsula to be excellent horse ways.

That accidents do not more frequently occur is mar-
vellous. But the horse is born in the wilderness, and
if there be a practicable path, he appears to know it
by intuition. Hence, the rider traverses with impunity
a morass in which Colonel Thornton would have been
ingulfed, and skirts a dizzy precipice with no more
apprehension that a cockney wayfaring upon a turnpike
trust. " Use lessens marvel," quoth Sir Walter Scott, —
and I, who formerly witnessed the accoutrement of
these Calmuck-looking coursers, with a lively anticipa-
tion of broken bones, now stumble through a defile, or
cross a bog, with all the indifference of a native.

Having despatched the dogs and keeper, we arranged
our beat, and started after breakfast. The road by
which we reached our shooting-ground is the sole means
by which this, our terra incognita , is connected with the
rest of Christendom. It is rough and dangerous in the
extreme, and impracticable to every quadruped but
the ponies of the country. In place of mile-stones
which mark better frequented roads, heaps of irregularly-
sized pebbles meet the eye, and a stranger will be at a
loss to assign their uses. They are melancholy memorials

ON THE MOORS. 185

of uncivilized society, and either mark the scene of
murder, or the place where a corpse has been rested in
the progress of a funeral. These tumuli are numerous
— and many a wild and fearful record of former violence
is associated with them. The greater portion of these
cairns record loss of life, consequent upon drunkenness ;
and the stone, at present, appears as fatal as the middoge
in former days. This weapon, I believe, was almost
confined to the west of Ireland, and at this time is rarely
met with. Yet, some centuries back it was as con-
stantly borne by the Milesians as the dirk in the High-
lands and the stiletto in Italy. All the legendary tales
of blood usually employ it as the means of violence ;
and old Antony says that in his youth the old people
shuddered when they named it. I never saw but one ;
it was a broad-bladed dagger, about fifteen inches long,
of clumsy workmanship, and hafted with a piece of deer's
horn. From the formidable figure the middoge cuts in
ancient chronicles, the temper of the blade was supposed
to be superior to any weapon forged in these degenerate
days ; and I heard an old man assert that he had seen
one, which, when held up and let fall perpendicularly,
but a few feet, would pierce through three half-crown
pieces — Credat Judteus ! — This interesting and valuable
implement, according to his account, was lost " during
the French," that is, at the period of the French invasion
in '98.

We left our horses at the old bridge of Ballyveeney,
and proceeded to make an extensive circle of the moors,
skirting, as we went along, the bases of the ridge of
hills which shuts out Erris from the interior.

It was eleven o'clock when the dogs were uncoupled.
The breeze was brisk and warm, and the ground was

1 86 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

either undulated into hillocks, or intersected by rivulets,
whose broken banks were thickly covered with luxurious
heath. It was a beat on which a grouse-shooter would
risk a kingdom, — it realised our expectations, and we
found game abundantly.

Hunting for grouse during the basking hour of the day is
rigidly prohibited by all gentlemen who compile sporting
directories ; and yet every shooter knows that at these
proscribed hours himself is commonly on the moors.
Morning and evening, when the birds are on foot in
search of food, is undoubtedly preferable to the duller
portion of the day, when they are accustomed to indulge
in a siesta. But generally some considerable distance
must be travelled before the sportsman can reach his
beat from his quarters. The morning is consumed on
horseback or in the shooting-cart ; the same road must
be again accomplished before night ; and hence, the
middle of the day is, of necessity, the portion devoted
to the pursuit of game.

To find the birds, when, satisfied with food, they leave
the moor to bask in some favourite haunt, requires
both patience and experience ; and here the mountain-
bred sportsman proves his superiority over the less-
practised shooter. The packs then lie closely, and
occupy a small surface on some sunny brow or sheltered
hollow. The best-nosed dogs will pass within a few
yards, and not acknowledge them ; and patient hunting,
with every advantage of the wind, must be employed
to find grouse at this dull hour.

But if close and judicious hunting be necessary, the
places to be beaten are comparatively few, and the
sportsman's eye readily detects the spot where the pack
is sure to be discovered. He leaves the open feeding-

ON THE MOORS. 187

grounds for heathery knowes and sheltered valleys
— and, while the uninitiated wearies his dogs in vain
over the hillside, where the birds, hours before, might
have been expected, the older sportsman profits by his
experience, and seldom fails in discovering the dell or
hillock where, in fancied security, the indolent pack
is reposing.

We had been upon the moors some hours — our walk
was enlivened by success, and the time had arrived when
the commissariat was required, and old John's supplies
were ordered from the rear. A rivulet was reported to
be just round the hill, and thither our course was directed.

We turned a rugged brow suddenly, and never did
a sweeter spot present itself to an exhausted sportsman ;
and resting on the bank of a ravine, where a small stream
trickled over a precipice, forming beneath its brow a
basin of crystal water, we selected this for our " bivouac."
Wild myrtle and shrub -like heather closed the opposite
sides, and one spot, where the rivulet elbowed back, was
covered with short green moss, that seemed rather an
effort of human art than a piece of natural arrangement.

Here we rested — and while baskets were unpacked,
and the cloth extended upon the velvet surface we
reposed upon, I looked with feelings which I cannot
describe upon the wild and melancholy scene below.

It was a ruined chapel and deserted burying-place —
one gable of the building alone was standing, and, from
beneath the ivied wall, a spring gushed out and united
itself with the rivulet I have described. A stone cross,
whose rude workmanship showed its antiquity, was
erected beside the fountain ; and although the cemetery
had long since been deserted, a circle round the well
was freshly worn in the turf, and a woman at the moment

1 88 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

was performing an act of devotion, on her bare knees,
making an occasional pause, to offer up a prayer and drop
a bead from her rosary.

The valley had a solemn and imposing character ;
everything about it was lonely and desolate. No traces
of human visits were discernible ; no pathway led to
the ruin, — all was deep, unbroken solitude ; a hallowed
and melancholy spot, where the living seldom presumed
to approach the mansions of the dead.

The breeze fell, the air became unusually oppressive,
the hill behind robbed us of the little wind that still par-
tially cooled the sultry atmosphere ; a distant muttering
among the mountains was faintly heard, and a sound
like a rising stream was audible. Suddenly, a black
cloud rose like magic upon the summit of the mountain,
and a flash of light succeeded. " The storm is on,"
said my kinsman, and leaving the attendants to discuss
the fragments of the feast, where they might best obtain
shelter, we hurried down the hill, and couched beneath
the ruins of the chapel.

There is more grandeur in an Alpine storm than can
be imagined by those who have not witnessed its effect.
As the thunder crashes over the hills, and miles away is
reverberated from the opposite mountains, the loneliness
of the wilderness is in fine keeping with the anger of
the elements. The rain-drops now fell faster — quick
and vivid flashes burst from the southern heavens,
and roll after roll succeeded, like sustained discharges
of artillery. The dogs, in evident alarm, cowered at our
feet, soliciting mortal protection from what, instinct
told them, were the visitations of an awful power.
Suddenly, one prolonged and terrific crash burst over-
head— a deluge of rain descended — and rapidly as it

ON THE MOORS. 189

came on, the storm passed away — the peals became
fewer and more distant, and in five minutes died in
sullen murmurs among the distant hills.

" Is not this, indeed, sublimity ? " said my kinsman,
as he broke a silence of some minutes. " To convey
ideas of the grand and terrible, give me a storm in the
mountains, and let it be viewed thus : sheltered by the
ivied walls of a ' toppling ' ruin, and surrounded by
the dwellings of the dead."

" How comes it," I inquired, " that, contrary to the
known attachment of the lower Irish for ancient places
of interment, this seems to be neglected and disused ? "

" You are right," he replied ; " although it was once
the only burying-ground to which the inhabitants of
this district conveyed the dead for interment, more than
two centuries have elapsed since it has been abandoned.
There is a curious tradition connected with its desecra-
tion which Antony will be too happy in narrating, and
as the clouds appear collecting on the hills, I propose
that we retreat in good time, for it is rare to find such
shelter on the moors as that afforded us by the ruins
of Knock-a-thample."*

Even the sublime and beautiful may be enjoyed to
satiety, and we agreed that one thunder-storm is suffi-
cient for the day. The game-bags, upon examination,
produced twenty brace of grouse and a leash of moun-
tain hares. For moderate men we had done enough,
and we could dispense with the evening shooting
Accordingly, we left our attendants to follow at their
leisure, and mounting our Cossack cavalry, set off at
a killing pace, " over bank, bush, and scaur," nor drew

* Anglice, The church of the hill.

190 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

bridle until we reached the sand-banks, where the
boat, with Pattigo and his companions, was awaiting
our arrival.

Nor have we been the only denizens of the Lodge
whose exertions have this day been successful. The
Colonel has spent the forenoon in the sand-banks, much
to his own satisfaction, in slaying rabbits, and studying
the Morning Post. To unite the sportsman and politi-
cian may at first sight seem difficult — but, ensconcing
himself in a good position, the commander waits
patiently for a shot, and, confiding loading and look-out
to Andy Bawn, whose attentions since the unfortunate
affair of the portmanteau have been redoubled, he
coolly proceeds with the debate, until a rabbit is reported
within range of the favourite Spanish barrel, by his
assistant gunner. This mode of shooting the Colonel
recommends, provided the day and the debate be warm.
In winter, he may be induced occasionally to take the
side of a sunny cover, but gout and rheumatism are
ever present to his imagination, and he would not " wet
a foot for all the birds upon Brae Mar."

After dinner I reminded my kinsman of the promised
legend of Knock-a-thample, and the otter-killer was
ordered to the presence. But on inquiry, Antony had
been professionally called off to a distant village upon
the coast to minister to a broken head, and had taken
his departure in a four-oared boat, with as much cere-
mony as though he had been surgeon-general. I felt,
and expressed, my disappointment. " And are you
really curious about this wild tradition ? " asked our
host. " I believe this is one of many legends which,
during a terrible winter, I amused myself by taking
down from Antony's own lips." Opening a drawer

ON THE MOORS. 19 1

he took out a common-place book, and marked the page.
Finding no inclination to sleep when I retired for the
night, I heaped more bog-wood on the fire, and, before
I slept, read the following specimen of the " wild and
wonderful."

WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE LEGEND OF KNOCK- A-TH AMPLE.

IN the valley of Knock-a-thample, beside a ruined
church and holy well, the shattered walls of what had
been once a human habitation are still visible. They
stand at a bow-shot distance from the fountain, which,
instead of a place of penance for ancient crones and
solitary devotees, was visited two centuries since for a
very different purpose.

The well, although patronised by St. Catharine, a
lady of as determined celibacy as ever underwent
canonisation, had one peculiar virtue, which, under her
especial superintendence, it might not have been expected
to possess. Indeed, in every-day complaints, its waters
were tolerably efficacious ; but, in cases of connubial
disappointments, when the nuptial bed had been
unfruitful, they proved an absolute specific ; and in
providing an heir for an estate, when " hope deferred
had made the heart sick," there was not in the kingdom
of Connaught a blessed well that could hold a candle
to that of Knock-a-thample.

Numerous as the persons were whom the reputation
of the fountain collected from a distance, few returned
without experiencing relief. Occasionally, a patient
appeared, whose virgin career had been a little too
protracted, and to whom the rosary, rather than the
cradle, was adapted. — And so thought St. Catharine
— though her water was unequalled, yet she had neither
time nor inclination to work miracles eternally ; con-
sequently, those ancient candidates for the honours

THE LEGEND OF KNOCK- A-TH AMPLE. 193

of maternity returned precisely as they came : to expend
holy water on such antique customers was almost a
sinful waste — their presumption was unpardonable —
it was enough to vex a saint, and even put the blessed
Patroness of Knock-a-thample in a passion.

Holy water, like prophecy, appears to be of little
value at home, and hence the devotees usually came from
some distant province. The soil, indeed, might then
have possessed the same anti-Malthusian qualities for
which it is so remarkable at the present day. Certainly
the home consumption of Knock-a-thample was on a
limited scale — and the herdsman and his wife, who
then occupied the ruined cottage near the church, owed
their winter comforts to the munificence of the strange
pilgrims, who, during the summer season, resorted in
numbers to the well.

It was late in October, and the pilgrimages were over
for the year — winter was at hand — the heath was
withered, and the last flower had fallen from the bog-
myrtle — the boollies* were abandoned, and the cattle
driven from the hills. It was a dark evening, and the
rain which had been collecting on the mountains began
to fall heavily, when a loud knock disturbed the inhabi-
tants of the cabin. The door was promptly unbarred
and a young and well-dressed stranger entered, received
the customary welcome, with an invitation to join the
herdsman's family, who were then preparing their
evening meal. The extreme youth and beauty of the
traveller did not escape the peasants' observation, although
he kept his cap upon his head and declined to put aside
his mantle.

* Temporary huts for cowherds and milkmaids for use in the
summer and autumn on mountain pastures.

O

194 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

An hour before the young stranger had arrived,
another, and a very different visitor, had demanded
lodging for the night. He belonged also to another
country, and for some years had trafficked with the
mountain peasantry, and was known among them by
the appellation of the Red Pedler. He was a strong,
under-sized, and ill-visaged man ; mean in his dress,
and repulsive in his appearance. The Pedler directed
a keen and inquisitive look at the belated traveller, who,
to escape the sinister scrutiny of his small but piercing
eyes, turned to where the herdsman's wife was occupied
in preparing the simple supper. The peasant gazed
with wonder at her guest ; for never had so fair a face
been seen within the herdsman's dwelling. While
her eyes were still bent upon the stranger, a fortuitous
opening of the mantle displayed a sparkling cross of
exquisite beauty, which hung upon the youth's bosom ;
and more than once, as it glittered in the uncertain
light of the wood fire, she remarked the rich and sparkling
gem.

When morning came, the Pilgrim took leave of the
hospitable peasants, and as he inquired the road to the
holy well, slipped a rose-noble into the hand of the
herdsman's wife. This was not unnoticed by the Red
Pedler, who proffered his services as guide, which the
youth modestly, but firmly, declined. The Pilgrim
hastened to the fountain, performed the customary
ceremonies before noon, and then took the mountain
path, leading through an opening in the hills, to a station*
which, though particularly lonely, was usually selected
by good Catholics for a last act of devotion, when return-
ing from visiting at the blessed well. The Pedler,
* A place of penance frequented by Catholic devotees.

THE LEGEND OF KNOCK-A-THAMPLE. 195

who, on various pretences, had loitered near the place,
soon afterwards departed in the same direction.

That night the herdsman's family sought repose in
vain — wild, unearthly noises were heard around the
hovel ; and shriek and laughter, awfully mingled
together, were borne upon the breeze which came
moaning from the mountains. The peasant barred
his door, and grasped his wood-axe ; his wife, with
trembling ringers, told her rosary over again and again.
Morning broke, and, harassed by alarms, they sunk
to sleep at last. But their slumbers were rudely
broken — a gray-haired monk roused them hastily —
horror was in his looks, and, with difficulty, he staggered
to a seat. Gradually he collected strength to tell his
fearful errand — the young and lovely devotee lay in
the mountain glen, before St. Catharine's cross, a
murdered corpse.

The tidings of this desperate deed flew through the
country rapidly. The body was carried to the herds-
man's cabin. For many hours life had been extinct,
and the distorted countenance of the hapless youth
bespoke the mortal agony which had accompanied
the spirit's flight. One deep wound was in his side,
inflicted, evidently, by a triangular weapon ; and the
brilliant cross and purse of gold were gone.

The women from the adjacent villages assembled to
pay the last rites to the remains of the murdered
Pilgrim. Preparatory to being laid out, the clothes
were gently removed from the body, when a cry of
horror burst from all — the Pilgrim was a woman ! Bound
by a violet ribbon, a bridal ring rested beside her heart ;
and, from unequivocal appearances, it was too evident
that the fell assassin had committed a double murder.

I0y6 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

The obsequies of the unhappy lady were piously
performed ; the mountain girls decked her grave with
flowers ; and old and young, for many a mile around,
offered prayers for the soul of the departed. The
murder was involved in mystery — the peasants had their
own suspicions, but fear caused them to be silent.

A year passed — the garland upon the stranger's grave
was carefully renewed — the village maidens shed many
a tear as they told her melancholy story ; and none
passed the turf which covered the murdered beauty
without repeating a prayer for her soul's repose.

Another passed — and the third anniversary of the
Pilgrim's death arrived. Late on that eventful evening
a tall and noble-looking stranger entered the herdsman's
cottage. His air was lofty and commanding ; and
though he wore a palmer's cloak, the jewelled pommel
of his rapier glanced from beneath the garment, and
betrayed his knightly dignity. The beauty of his manly
countenance forcibly recalled to the peasants the memory
of the ill-starred stranger. But their admiration was
checked by the fierce, though melancholy expression
of the handsome features of the stranger ; and if they
would have been inclined to scrutinise him more, one
stern glance from his dark and flashing eye imperiously
forbade it. Supper was prepared in silence, until, at
the Knight's request, the herdsman detailed minutely
every circumstance connected with the lady's murder.

While the peasant's narrative proceeded, the stranger
underwent a terrible emotion, which hie stern resolution
could not entirely conceal. His eyes flared, his brows
contracted till they united ; and before the tale was
ended he leaped from his seat, and left the cabin hastily.

He had been but a few minutes absent, when the door

THE LEGEND OF KNOCK- A-TH AMPLE. 197

opened, and another visitor entered with scanty cere-
mony, and, though unbidden, seated himself upon the
stool of honour. His dress was far better than his
mien, and he assumed an appearance of superiority
which, even to the peasants, appeared forced and
unnatural. He called authoritatively for supper, and
the tones of his voice were quite familiar to the herds-
man. With excited curiosity, the peasant flung some
dried flax upon the fire, and, by the blaze, recognised
at once the well-remembered features of the Red Pedler !

Before the peasant could recover his surprise, the tall
stranger entered the cottage again, and approached the
hearth. With an air which could not be disputed, he
commanded the intruder to give place. The waving
of his hand was obeyed, and, with muttered threats,
the Pedler retired to the settle. The Knight leaned
against the rude walls of the chimney, and remained
absorbed in bitter thought, until the humble host told
him that the meal was ready.

If a contrast were necessary, it would have been found
in the conduct of the strangers at the board. The
Knight ate like an anchorite, while the Pedler indulged
his appetite largely. The tall stranger tempered the
aqua vit<e presented by the host copiously with water,
while the short one drank fast and deep, and appeared
anxious to steep some pressing sorrow in the goblet.
Gradually, however, his brain felt the influence of the
liquor, and, unguarded from deep and repeated draughts,
he thus addressed the host : —

" Markest thou a change in me, fellow ? "

" Fellow ! " quoth the peasant, half affronted ;
" three years ago we were indeed fellows ; for the Red
Pedler often sought shelter here, and never was refused."

198 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

" The Red Pedler ! " exclaimed the tall stranger,
starting from his reverie, as if an adder had stung him ;
and fixing his fiery glance upon the late visitor, he
examined him from head to foot.

" You will know me again, I trow," said the Pedler,
with extraordinary assurance.

" I shall" was the cold reply.

" Well," said the new-comer, " though three years
since I bore a pack, I'll wager a rose-noble that I have
more money in my pouch than half the beggarly knights
from Galway to Athlone. There ! " he exclaimed,
as he flung his cloak open, " there is a weighty purse, and
here a trusty middoge, and a fig for knighthood and
nobility ! "

" Slave ! " said the stranger, in a voice that made the
peasants tremble, " breathe not another word until
thou hast satisfied my every question, or, by the Mother
of Heaven ! I'll cram my rapier down thy false throat ; "
and, starting on his feet, he flung his mantle on the floor.

Though surprised, the Pedler was not discomfited by
the dignity and determination of his antagonist.

" Yes ! " he sullenly replied, " I wear no rapier —
but this middoge has never failed me at my need," and
drawing from his bosom a long, triangular weapon,
he placed it on the table. — " Sir Knight," he continued
" the handle of my tool is simple deer-horn ; but,
by the mass ! I have a jewel in my breast that would buy
thy tinselled pommel ten times."

" Thou liest, slave ! " exclaimed the Knight.

" To the proof, then," said the Pedler ; and opening
a secret pocket, he produced a splendid cross.

" Villain ! " said the tall stranger, under deep emotion,
" surely thou hast robbed some hapless traveller ! "

THE LEGEND OF KNOCK- A-THAMPLE. 199

" No ! " replied the Pedler, with a cool smile ; " I
was beside the owner of this cross when his last sigh
was breathed ! "

Like lightning the stranger's sword flashed from its
scabbard.

" Murderer ! " he shouted, in a voice of thunder,
" for three years have I wandered about the habitable
earth, and my sole object in living was to find thy caitiff
self ; a world would not purchase thee one moment's
respite ! " and before the wretch could more than
clutch his weapon, the knight's sword passed through
his heart — the hilt struck upon the breast-bone, and
the Red Pedler did not carry his life to the floor.

The stranger for a moment gazed upon the breathless
body, and having with the dead man's cloak removed
the blood from his blade, replaced it coolly in the sheath.
The Pedler's purse he flung scornfully to the peasant,
but the cross he took up, looked at it with fixed attention,
and the herdsman's wife remarked that more than one
tear fell upon the relic.

Just then the gray-haired Monk stood before him ;
he had left his convent to offer up the mass, which he
did on every anniversary of the pilgrim's murder.
He started back with horror as he viewed the bleeding
corpse ; while the knight, having secured the cross
within his bosom, resumed his former cold and haughty
bearing.

" Fellow ! " he cried to the trembling peasant, " hence
with that carrion. Come hither, Monk — why gapest
thou thus ? hast thou never seen a corpse ere now ?
Approach, I would speak with thee apart " — and he
strode to the further end of the cottage, followed by the
churchman. — " I am going to confide to thee what — "

200 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

" The penitent should kneel," said the old man,
timidly.

" Kneel ! " exclaimed the Knight, " and to thee,
my fellow mortal ! Monk, thou mistakest — / am not
of thy faith, and I laugh thy priestcraft to derision.
Hearken, but interrupt me not. The beauteous being
whose blood was spilled in these accursed wilds was the
chosen lady of my love. I stole her from a convent,
and wedded her in secret ; for pride of birth induced
me to conceal from the world my marriage with a
fugitive nun. She became pregnant, and that circum-
stance endeared her to me doubly, and I swore a solemn
oath that, if she brought a boy, I would at once announce
him as my heir, and proclaim my marriage to the world.
The wars called me for a time away. Deluded by the
artifice of her confessor, my loved one was induced to
come hither on a pilgrimage, to intercede with thy
saint, that the burden she bore might prove a son.
Curses light upon the shaveling that counselled that fatal
journey ! Nay, cross not thyself, old man, for I would
execrate thy master of Rome, had he been the false
adviser. Thou knowest the rest, Monk. Take this
purse. She was of thy faith, and thou must say masses
for her soul's health. Yearly shall the same sum be
sent to thy convent ; see that all that prayers can do
be done, or by my hopes of grace, thy hive of drones
shall smoke for it. Doubt me not. — De Burgo will
keep his word to the very letter. And now, farewell !
I hurry from this fatal spot for ever ; my train are not
distant, and have long since expected me."

As he spoke, he took his mantle from the floor, and
wrapped it round him carelessly ; then, as he passed the
spot where the body of the murderer lay, he spurned

THE LEGEND OF KNOCK- A-TH AMPLE. 2OI

it with his foot, and, pausing for a moment, looked at
the Monk —

" Remember / " he said in a low voice, which made the
old man shudder, and, passing from the cabin, he
crossed the heath, and disappeared.

But the terror of the herdsman's family did not abate
with his departure ; a dead man lay before them, and
the floor was deluged with his blood. No human help
was nigh ; before daylight assistance could not be
expected ; and no alternative remained but to wait
patiently for the morrow. Candles were lighted up,
the hearth was heaped with fuel, and a cloth thrown
over the corpse, which they lacked the courage to remove.
To sleep was impossible, and in devotional acts they
endeavoured to while the night away. Midnight came,
the Monk was slumbering over his breviary, and the
matron occupied with her beads, when a violent tramp-
ling was heard outside, and the peasant, fearing the
cattle he had in charge were disturbed, rose to ascertain
the cause. In a moment he returned. A herd of wild
deer surrounded the cabin, and actually stood in
threatening attitude within a few paces of the door !
While he told this strange occurrence to the Monk
a clap of thunder shook the hovel to its centre — yells,
and shrieks, and groans succeeded — noises so demoniac
as to almost drive the listeners to madness, hurtled
through the air — and infernal lights flashed through the
crevices of the door and window. Till morning broke,
these unearthly terrors continued, without a moment's
intermission.

Next day the villagers collected. They listened
to the fearful story with dismay, while the melancholy
fate of the gentle pilgrim was bitterly lamented. To

202 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

inter the Pedler's corpse was the first care ; for the
Monk swore by his patron saint that he would not
pass another night with it overground to be made a
" mitred abbot." A coffin was forthwith prepared, and
with " maimed rites," the murderer was committed
to the earth.

That masses were requisite to purify the scene of
slaughter was indisputable — and with the peasants who
had flocked from the neighbouring villages, the Monk
determined to pass that night in prayer. The blood-
stains were removed from the floor — the corpse had been
laid in consecrated earth — and the office had commenced
at midnight, when, suddenly, a rushing noise was heard,
as if a mountain-torrent was swollen by the bursting of
a thunder-cloud. It passed the herdsman's cabin,
while blue lights gleamed through the casement, and
thunder pealed above. In a state of desperation, the
priest ordered the door to be unclosed, and by the
lightning's glare, a herd of red deer were seen tearing
up the Pedler's grave ! To look longer in that blue
infernal glare was impossible — the door was shut, and
the remainder of the night passed in penitential prayer.

With the first light of morning, the Monk and
villagers repaired to the Pedler's grave, and the scene
it presented showed that the horrors of the preceding
night were no illusion. The earth around was blasted
with lightning, and the coffin torn from the tomb, and
shattered in a thousand splinters. — The corpse was
blackening on the heath, and the expression of the
distorted features was more like that of a demon than a
man. Not very distant was the grave of his beautiful
victim. The garland which the village girls had placed
there was fresh and unfaded ; and late as the season

THE LEGEND OF KNOCK-A-THAMPLE. 203

was the blossom was still upon the bog-myrtle, and the
heath-flower was as bright and fragrant as though it
were the merry month of June. " These are indeed
the works of hell and heaven," ejaculated the gray
friar. " Let no hand from this time forth pollute itself
by touching yon accursed corpse."

Nightly the same horrible noises continued. Shriek
and groan came from the spot where the unburied
murderer was rotting, while by day the hill-fox and the
eagle contended who should possess the body. Ere
a week passed the villain's bones were blanching in the
winds of heaven, for no human hand attempted to
cover them again.

From that time the place was deserted. The desperate
noises, and the frequent appearance of the Pedler's
tortured spirit, obliged the herdsman to abandon his
dwelling, and reside in an adjacent village. The night
of the day upon which he had removed his family and
effects, a flash of lightning fell upon the cabin, and
consumed the roof ; and next morning nothing remained
but black and rifted walls. Since that time the weH
is only used for penance. The peasant approaches
not the desecrated burying-place if he can avoid it.
The cattle are never known to shelter underneath the
ruined walls — and the curse of God and man have fallen
on Knock-a-thample.

204 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE Colonel has girded up his loins for the mountains,
and, with the assistance of Mogh-a-dioul, a pony of
unhappy name, but good and enduring qualities, he
purposes to favour us with his company during our
sojourn at the cabin in the hills. While we traverse
the moors, the commander will infest the river ; or,
if the day be questionable, like honest Sancho, he will
patiently remain beside the flesh-pots. To him the
" meminisse juvabit " will apply. Thirty years ago,
with his lamented contemporary, our host's father,
the soldier, who was then a keen and accomplished
sportsman, spent many a happy hour upon the heath.
To his memory every dell and hillock is still green ;
and hence our evening details will recall to him those
happier recollections of youthful pastime, which, when
" life was new," he had once delighted to indulge in.

The Colonel fishes well ! and I, at least my vanity
believes it, have improved marvellously — I really can
throw a line, and this the priest avers upon the word
of a churchman. I begin also to have what the Scotch
call a gloamin'' of what forms the composition of a killing
fly. But my pride has sadly abated. Last night, during
a stormy controversy, touching the comparative merits
of Pull-garrow and Pull-buoy, upon which the host
and commander held opinions opposite as the antipodes,
to prove that I belonged to a " thinking people," I
raised my voice in favour of the yellow pool. Our host,
in dudgeon, having premised that one of us was blind,
and the other a botch, declared by the shade of Walton,

THE COLONELS WAGER. 205

that on any given day he would kill more than we both
could produce together. This, as every Irish argument
ends in a duel or bet, has terminated, fortunately, in the
latter : and though the wager be not so deep as Hamlet's
" Barbary horses " to " French rapiers, poniards, and
their assigns," yet the respective parties appear deeply
interested in the result. To-morrow will decide the
question, and settle the doubtful point of scientific
superiority between the rival artists.

It strikes me forcibly, that among Irish anglers the
doctrine of meum et tuum is but indifferently understood.
My kinsman and the commander are constantly lamenting
a loss of property, and certainly they do not indulge in
these jeremiads without good reason. I never observe
the Colonel's huge book forgotten for a few minutes,
but it is unmercifully plundered by the host — and if
the key of the latter's fly-drawer can be procured, the
commander unlocks it without ceremony, and having
explored its arcana, adopts liberally such articles as find
favour in his sight. The housemaid has been suborned
to abstract the Colonel's casting-lines from his dor-
mitory ; and, as the host generally hides a favourite
fly or two in the lining of his hat, I never pass the hall
without finding the commander fumbling about the hat-
stand. It was clearly stipulated and understood that
the flies with which to-morrow's match should be
decided were to be bona fide the handy-work of the
respective parties ; yet the Colonel privately informs
me that he has despatched a trusty envoy to the priest,
to implore that gifted churchman to furnish him, sub
sigillo, with a cast or two for the occasion ; and the said
envoy has covenanted to be at the commander's window
with an answer, " before a mother's soul is stirring."

206 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

The thunder-storm produced a considerable fresh
in the river, as the rain fell abundantly in the hills. The
stream, however, had sufficient time to clear after the
flood, and we found it in beautiful order. The wind
is steady at north-west ; and as the drafting has long
since been discontinued, and the wears lowered to permit
the fish to enter from the sea without obstruction,
old Antony declares that, as a fishing-day, nothing could
be more favourable. We tossed for choice, and lost
it. My kinsman commences his work three miles
up, at his favourite Pull-garrow, while we fish from the
mouth of the river. At five we meet at the cabin, and
the party then producing the greater weight of fish
is conqueror. These preliminaries being adjusted, our
opponent went off like an arab, to join his aide-de-camp,
Mr. Hennessey, who has all in readiness for his com-
mencement, and, I suspect, a salmon or two already
in the pannier.

The opening of our campaign is everything but satis-
factory— Mogh-a-dioul seems possessed with the
demon of obstinacy ; any advance towards the river
is his aversion, and, as Pattigo expresses it, " the beast
will neither wear or stay" The commander's seat
has been more than once perilled by his gambadoes ;
and, as we are informed that he is caparisoned with a
bit, which is his abomination, there is but little chance
of amendment in Mogh-a-dioul. This appears very
like a plot against the Colonel's person ; and I fear that
the midnight embassy to the priest will be more than
countervailed by the manoeuvres of our abler antagonist.

Both adepts made excellent professions of good
faith at starting ; but, as my kinsman left us, there was a
" lurking devil in his eye," that augurs us no good

THE COLONEL'S WAGER. 207

fortune. The commander, too, talked in good, set terms
of " honourable conduct " ; but precept and practice,
I lament to say, are somewhat irreconcilable.

" Andy" he said, in his most insinuating manner, to
our attendant ; " Andy Baiun, you were always an
obliging boy, and very handy with the gaff. Just keep
your eye about the banks as we go along ; and if you can
snaffle a salmon or two, why, the pannier will tell no
tales, and weigh all the better."

To me there never was a more delightful expedition ;
but my companion was cold to all the romance of
nature, and engrossed with one consideration — to win
his wager. While I was enraptured with the splendid
scenery that each new point presented, the Colonel was
cursing his flies, and pouring anathemas on the priest.
" How beautiful !" I exclaimed, as the sunshine fell
upon a mountain valley, through which a little rivulet
was winding, and whose waters, in the glare of light,
danced downwards like a streak of molten silver.

" How d provoking," responded my brother

fisherman, " that the only decent fly in that accursed
priest's collection should be tied upon a hook with no
more point upon it than a hobnail ! Ah, Father Andrew !
was this treatment for an old acquaintance — a man who
would have trusted his life to you, and drink with you
in the dark ? Here, Andy Bawn, give me my book,
and fling this most villainous assemblage of faded wool
and ragged feathers into the next bog-hole. And now,
my friend and fellow-labourer, leave the mountains
alone, and think more of filling the fishing-baskets,
or we are beaten men ! "

We followed the course of the river for a distance of
ten miles, stopping at the pools as we went along, but

208 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

leaving the streams and shallows without a trial. As
we proceeded up the hills the scenery became wilder
and more interesting ; here and there the moors were
sprinkled with green hillocks, and the range of moun-
tains behind was splendidly picturesque. The pools
alone had beauty in my companion's eyes, and some of
them were indeed magnificent. One was particularly
romantic — it was a deep natural basin, formed by a
sudden turning of the river, where the banks on either
side were nearly perpendicular, and rose to a con-
siderable height, and, to the water's edge, were thickly
covered with hollies and hardy shrubs. At the upper
end of the pool, a rock of immense magnitude reared
its naked front, and shut out every other object. Round
its base, the river forced its waters through a narrow
channel, and at the other extremity, falling over a ledge
of rocks, turned sharply round a hillock, and was lost
sight of. There were but two points from which the
angler could command the pool, for elsewhere the
banks and underwood prevented his approach : one was
a sandbank about the centre, to which, by a narrow
goat-path, the fisher could descend ; the other, a small
space immediately beneath the rock of green and velvet-
looking herbage. At this point the shepherds had
erected a hut for occasional shelter, and never was a
sweeter spot selected wherein to dream away a summer
night. No human dwelling was in sight — deep and
undisturbed solitude breathed around — the blue and
lucid pool before the cabin danced in the moonlight,
or glittered in the first rays of morning — while the
rushing waters of the river produced such melancholy
and tranquillizing sounds, as would lull to rest any
bosom untortured by mortal passions.

THE COLONEL S WAGER. 2OQ

" Julius has been here before us, and has left some
mementoes of his visit," said the Colonel, pointing to
foot-marks in the sand, and blood and fish-scales upon the
pebbles ; " I fear our bet is in jeopardy ; verily, our
worthy relative will never shame the proverb, that
' De'il's bairns have de'il's luck ! ' But what can the
matter be among the salmon ? In faith, the pool appears
bewitched."

As he spoke I remarked the occurrence which the
commander noticed. The fish, which upon our first
arrival had risen merrily at the natural flies, ceased on
a sudden altogether — now they rushed confusedly
through the water or threw themselves for yards
along the surface. It was not the sullen plunge
at an insect, or the vertical spring, when sport,
not food, brings the salmon over water ; but it
was evident there was some hidden cause of alarm, and
we were not long left in doubt. Near the neck of the
pool an otter of the largest size showed himself for a
moment, then darting under water, the same commotion
ensued again. Before a minute elapsed, Andy Bazvn
pointed silently to a shoal beneath an overhanging bush,
and there was the spoiler, apparently resting himself
after his successful exertions, and holding a four-pound
white trout in his mouth. Either he noticed us, or had
some more favourite haunt to feed in, for he glided
into the deep water, and we saw no more of him.

Although we found out that the otter and ourselves
could not manage to fish in company, we ascertained
that the pool was abundantly stocked with salmon ;
during the period of the greatest alarm, at least a dozen
fish were breaking the surface at the same time.

We reached the cabin after a day of excellent sport ;

P

210 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

but everything on earth has its alloy, and two circum-
stances appear to cloud the sunshine of the commander's
bosom. One is the inexplicable conduct of the priest ;
the other, the repeated misconduct of Mogh-a-dioul.
We have, to be sure, four fine salmon, and a score of good-
sized sea-trout ; but the Colonel swears that he lost
his best fishing until he discarded the priest's flies ;
and it is probable, if their defects had been apparent
at an earlier period, our baskets would have been con-
siderably benefited by the discovery.

As we ascended the bank before the cabin door, our
rival met us. He had left off fishing for some time,
and had changed his dress entirely — " Come, brush
up, or dinner will be spoiled. Colonel, I trust that
you and Mogh-a-dioul are on pleasing terms with each
other. You stole my bridle, but, no apologies — I can
ride Crughadore with a hayband. Come, — to scale
at once, or dinner is not worth a gray groat. Hennessey,
the steel-yard — produce — despatch — one, two, three,
four. You killed one apiece, I presume, and Andy gaffed
the other two ; nay, commander of the faithful, look
not so ferocious. What, no more ! and is this paltry
creel of fish the produce of the day ? Colonel, I blush
for you. Barely forty pounds. Turn that clave* over,
and put these gentlemen of the angle out of pain."
As he spoke, the attendant emptied the contents of the
pannier, and nine well-sized salmon, with a multitude
of sea-trout, rolled out upon the sward.

" By my faith ! " exclaimed the commander, " these
fish were never fairly killed ; you drafted a hole or two,
as surely as I am a sinner."

" The latter part of your remark I admit," said my
* A horsebasket.

THE COLONEL'S WAGER. 211

kinsman, " the former I deny. By this virgin hand !
every fish before you was killed by hook and line.
Come, are you for another bet ? For five pounds, and
within five minutes, I'll kill another salmon, and make
the number ten ! "

" Done ! " we exclaimed together.

" Hennessey, the rod ; wet the flies below the pool,
and in twenty seconds, yon cloud will be over the sun."

Before the cabin there was a tolerable hole, deep,
but narrow. Where the stream runs in, the ripple is
considerable, and between it and the bank the deepest
water lies. If there be a salmon in the pool, there is the
spot to find him. My cousin sent the casting-line in
such masterly style into the opposite eddy as pro-
claimed him at once an adept, and the second cast a
salmon rose and took him.

He was but a light fish, and in less than three minutes
was bounding upon the grass beside his dead com-
panions. My kinsman handed the rod to the attendant.
— " Gentlemen," he said in mock heroics, " in your
memories be all my bets remembered ! And now to
dinner, with what appetite you may."

" Well," said the commander, " this beats Bannagher*
I would have given my corporal oath the knave had
swept the river. His flies are absolute perfection !
There's villainy somewhere ; but come along. The
dinner must not cool, and the wine shall pay for it ! "

" Julius," said the commander, as he extracted the
third cork, " thy star predominated ; a villainous
combination of circumstances, with infernal flies, and
an intractable pony, destroyed me. Andy Bazvn (we
are beaten, and the truth may be told) for the first time

* An Irish phrase synonymous with" this exceeds everything."

212 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

in his life was taken with a fit of conscience, and actually
refused to gaff a salmon. The very otters were com-
bined against us, and disturbed the best pool upon the
river but Pull-buoy. I had no time to tie fresh flies."

" Or even send to Goolamere to borrow" said my
kinsman, drily.

" Ah, hem," and the Colonel appeared a little bothered
— " I want no man's flies ; my own, I find, will generally
answer."

" And yet," said the host, " the priest, when he
pleases, can tie a killing one"

" Why — ye — es, he does — a leetle coarse — but let me
see your casting-lines ; I fear, my friend, that we had
not the right colours up."

" I fear so, too" said our host, with much expression.

" By my conscience ! " exclaimed the Colonel, as he
scrutinised the casting-lines that were wound about my
kinsman's hat, " I would have taken my oath on a
bag- full of books that this mallard's wing was tied by
Father Andrew."

" And by my conscience," returned the host, " you
would not have been very far astray."

" And was this fair, Julius — to fish with any but
your own ? "

" Why, really, they looked so beautiful, that for the
life of me I could not but put them up. But, my friend,
the next time you despatch a midnight messenger,
select a trustier one than Currakeen* — and take a better
opportunity to praise young Alice's ' black eyes ' than
when issuing your secret instructions. Nay, I will
respect those blushes. The fact is, Currakeen was at
your window before ' a mother's soul was stirring y—^
* A bye-name given to one of tlje endless tribe of M alley.

THE COLONEL'S WAGER. 213

but, my dear Colonel, he did me the favour to first call
at mine. I merely took the liberty of exchanging a
few flies — you fished with some old acquaintances,
while I tried experiments with Father Andrew's. Come,
the bets are off — we both violated treaties, and thus
I renounce my victory, though my opinion of Pull-
garrow is unalterable."

" Julius," said the commander, solemnly, " you'll
be on the highway next. Breaking a letter open, I think,
is an excellent preparative for stopping his Majesty's
mail."

" And in that case, I trust that you will be an accom-
plice. If one must swing, good society is everything.
Your demeanour at ' the fatal tree,' I am persuaded,
would be exemplary."

214 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE otter-killer arrived here last evening, after having,
according to his own account, worked wonders upon a
damaged head. From the specimens I have seen
during my short sojourn at Ballycroy, I have come to a
conclusion that the skulls of the natives are fabricated
of different materials to those of all the world besides.
Their endurance is miraculous — a fellow who was
reported as " beaten to a jelly, and anointed by the priest,"
last week, actually cleared a fair with an unpronounceable
name yesterday, after qualifying for admission to the
next infirmary some half-score of his Majesty's liege
subjects. This is an every-day exploit ; and of all the
corners of the earth that I have visited, I would name
this as the place wherein to establish a resident cranio-
logist.

Like all wild people, these aborigines are absurdly
credulous, and open to the grossest superstitions.
Charms, as they believe, are employed with decided
success, in every disease you name. The existence of
ghosts and fairies is universally acknowledged ; and
animals of extraordinary formation, and strange virtues,
are supposed to inhabit lakes and rivers. Among these
the sea-horse and master-otter* are pre-eminent. By
a singular anomaly, the first is said to be found in certain
inland loughs, and his appearance is imagined to be
fatal to the unfortunate person who encounters him.
The latter, however, should be an object of anxious

* There is a strange coincidence between the master -otter of
the Irish and the Jungunus crocodile of the Japanese.

GHOSTS AND FAIRIES. 215

research, for he is endued with amazing virtues. Where
a portion of his skin is, the house cannot be burned,
or the ship cast away, and steel or bullet will not harm
the man who possesses an inch of this precious material.
Antony, indeed, confesses that, in the course of his
otter-hunting, he has never been fortunate enough to
meet this invaluable brute ; but he tells a confused
story of one having been killed " far down in the
north " by three brothers called Montgomery, who,
from poverty, became immensely rich, and whose
descendants are opulent to this very day. He says,
the master-otter was seen twice in this neighbourhood.
At Dhu-hill, he appeared about sixty years ago, attended
by about one hundred common-sized animals, who
waited upon " the master " like loyal and dutiful beasts.
He was also observed by one of the O'Donnel family,
whilst passing through Clew Bay in a sailing-boat.
Requiring a supply of fresh water, O'Donnel landed
on an island for the purpose of filling his keg, but found
the spring already occupied by a strange and nondescript
animal. After his first surprise had subsided, he
returned to the boat, and procured a gun. This he loaded
carefully with five fingers and a half* — for Antony is
minute in all his narratives — and then, and within a
dozen yards, levelled at the master. Thrice he drew
the trigger, and thrice the gun missed fire. The otter
wisely determined not to give him a fourth chance,
and left the well for the ocean. Mortified at his failure,
O'Donnel tried his gun at a passing gull ; it exploded
without trouble, and finished the unfortunate bird —
thus proving, beyond a doubt, that the gun was faultless,

* The lower class of Irish describe the charge of a gun not by
quantity of powder and shot, but by long measure.

21 6 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

and the preservative qualities of the animal were alone to
blame — " And, indeed," quoth Antony, " he might
have snapped at the master to eternity ; for, if an inch
of skin can save house, ship, and man, what a deal of
virtue there must be in a whole hide ! "

The legendary tales touching the appearance of
ghosts, and the exploits of fairies, are endless. The
agency of the former appears directed principally to
men, while the latter exercise their powers upon children
and cattle. Indeed, the sinister influence of the " faery
race " appears to fall almost exclusively upon the brute
creation in Ballycroy ; and through it many an unhappy
cow comes to an untimely end, and if she escape loss
of life, she suffers what is nearly as bad, loss of butter.
For the first calamity, Antony acknowledges there is
no cure ; but for the second, there is " balm in Gilead,"
and certain holy loughs afford an antidote to this elfin
visitation.

The cow, I believe, should be present at the operation,
which is performed by committing her tether and some
butter to the waves, with (of course) a due proportion
of prayers for her recovery. Whether the animal be
benefited or not, there be others who reap sure and solid
advantages. At the proper period, some saint's day,
no doubt, when Lough Keirawn is frequented by the
proprietors of bewitched cattle, many of the poor of the
neighbourhood congregate on the lee side of the lake,
and a lively and profitable fishing of fresh butter
continues, until the oblations to the saint or saintess
of the lake, on the part of the afflicted cows, have
ended.

While staying at a gentleman's house I heard, when
passing the porter's lodge, that the gate-keeper's cow

GHOSTS AND FAIRIES. 217

was ill. As she was a fine animal, the loss would have
been a serious one to the family, and hence I became
interested in her recovery. For several days, however,
the report to my inquiry was most unfavourable, and
at last the case was considered hopeless.

The following morning, as I rode past, I found the
family in deep distress. The cow, they said, could
not live many hours ; and the gate-keeper had gone
off to fetch " the charmer," who lived some ten miles
distant. I really sympathised with the good woman.
The loss of eight or nine guineas to one in humble life
is a serious calamity ; and frtim the appearance of the
cow I concluded, though not particularly skilful, that
the animal would not survive.

That evening I strolled out after dinner. It was sweet
moonlight, and I bent my steps to the gate-house to
inquire if the cow still lived.

The family was in great tribulation. " The charmer
had arrived — had seen the cow — had prepared herbs
and nostrums, and was performing some solitary cere-
mony at an adjacent spring- well, from which he had
excluded every member of the family in assisting."
I was most curious to observe the incantation, but was
dissuaded by the gate-keeper, who implored me " to
give the conjuror fair play."

In five minutes the charmer joined us — he said the
case was a bad one, but that he thought he could
bring round the cow. He then administered the
" unhallowed potion," and I left the lodge, expecting
to hear next morning that the animal was defunct.

Next day " the bulletin was favourable " ; and " the
charmer " was in the act of receiving his reward — I
looked at him ; he was as squalid and heart-broken a

21 8 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

wretch in appearance as ever trod the earth. The cow
still seemed weak, but " the charmer " spoke confi-
dently of her recovery. When he left the lodge and
turned his steps homewards, I pulled up my horse and
waited for him. He would rather have avoided an
interview, but could not. " Well, fellow, you have
humbugged that poor family, and persuaded them that
the cow will recover ? " — " I have told them truth,"
said the charmer, coldly. — " And will your prophecy
prove true ? " I asked, in a tone of scornful incredulity.
" It will," said he ; " but, God help me ! this night I'll
pay dearly jor it ! " I looked at him — his face was
agonised and terror-stricken ; he crossed the fence and
disappeared.

When I passed the gate-house on my return, the cow
was evidently convalescent ; and in a few days she was
perfectly well.

I leave the solution of the mystery to the learned ;
for in such matters, as they say in Connaught — Neil an
skeil a gau maun.

Among the human diseases ascribed to supernatural
causes, the jaragurta is the principal. Conjectures
touching its origin are numerous and contradictory,
and it is attributed to everything but the true cause.
The jaragurta comes on suddenly — a general weakness
precedes the attack — the sufferer's strength is pros-
trated in an instant — he sinks down, and, if assistance
be not at hand, perishes. Many persons are lost through
this disease while crossing the extensive wilds around
us, where human relief is generally unattainable.

The causes, to which, in popular belief, it is ascribed
are many. Some assert that it is brought on by treading
upon a poisonous plant ; others, that it is occasioned by

GHOSTS AND FAIRIES. 219

fairy influence ; while more affirm that it is produced
by passing over the place where a corpse has been laid
down. But this mystified disorder is, after all, nothing
but exhaustion consequent upon hunger and fatigue.
The lower classes are particularly obnoxious to its
attack. They eat but seldom, and at irregular seasons ;
and commonly labour for many hours before they
break their fast. Want of food produces faintness and
exhaustion ; and a supernatural cause is sought for a
simple malady, which is only the natural consequence
of dyspepsia and an empty stomach.

One would imagine that the specific for jaragurta
would at once point out its origin. Bread, or even a
few grains of corn, are believed to cure it instantly ;
but any kind of food is equally efficacious. " I have
seen," said my kinsman, " many persons attacked with
jaragurta, and have myself been patient and physician.
Some years ago, a fine, active boy, called Emineein*
commonly attended me to the moors, and one day he
was suddenly taken ill, in the very wildest part of the
hills. He lost all power of limb, and lay down upon the
heath unable to proceed a step. We had no grain of
any kind to administer, and in this emergency tried
that universal panacea — a glass of whisky. After he had
swallowed the cordial, the boy rather got worse than
better, and we were obliged to carry him to a still-house,
at nearly two miles distance. On our arrival, fortunately
for Emineein, we found the operators collected round
a skibb\ of potatoes. After eating one or two, the
patient was able to join the party, and next morning
proceeded stoutly home.

" In my own case, the predisposing cause was no

* Synonymous to Neddy. t A basket.

22O WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

enigma. I had been one of a knot of fox-hunters who,
on the preceding night, had indulged in a desperate
jollification. Finding a disinclination for breakfast,
I repaired, contrary to my general habit, without it to
the mountains. I had exercised severely for several
hours, when at once I became helpless as an infant,
and sank upon a bank incapable of motion. My pony
and some food were speedily obtained, and thejaragurta
banished. But, assuredly, if unassisted, I must have
lain upon the heath, for I could not make the slightest
exertion to get forward."

It is a lamentable fact that the obligation of legal
oath is here of trifling importance. Cases of determined
perjury occur every day ; and an adjuration upon the
evangelists is considered as being far inferior in solemnity
to one upon the priest's vestment. Whether there
be any regular formula to be observed in this compara-
tive swearing, I know not ; I say comparative, for in
Ballycroy, oaths, like adjectives, have three degrees of
value. First, that upon the evangelists ; the second,
upon the vestment ; and the last upon the skull.
Nothing is more common than to hear a fellow, who had
just laid down the book, offer to fortify his doubtful
evidence, by taking number two. But even the vestment
is not always conclusive ; and the following anecdote
will best describe the value of comparative swearing : —

Andy Bawn has felt the arrow of " the villain," and
believed, " fond wretch ! " that he was beloved again.
The night of the portmanteau affair will ever be
chronicled upon his memory ; for while he was under
fear and terror at the bridge of Bally veeney, she, the lady
of his love, was at a prinkum* at Latrah, performing

* A Ballycroy ball, on the " free and easy " plan, where much
whisky and no ceremony is used.

GHOSTS AND FAIRIES. 221

' apples for gentlemen,"* with another suitor. Nay,
more, the quondam lover, as was reported, had actually
cecisbeo'd Miss Biddy Currigan across the bogs ; and dark
and dangerous innuendoes arose from this imprudent
escort. Andy Bawn was unhappily a man " who
doubts, but dotes ; suspects, yet fondly loves." Alas !
what was to be done ? Could Miss Currigan become
Mrs. Donahoo, after suffering a regular blast, as they
call it in the kingdom of Connaught ? Impossible !
her character must be cleared, and Andy satisfied.

The magistrate was proposed — well, that was good
enough, if it were the identity of a strayed sheep, or
the murder of a man ; but in a nice case, like Miss
Currigan's, it was totally inefficient. " The vestment
would be taken," — still better ; but the world was
censorious : and, after all, Biddy Currigan was a giddy
girl to cross a couple of miles of moorland, after midnight,
with a declared lover, and him hearty ;f — and so thought
Andy Bawn. At last the suspected virgin volunteered
to " take the skull," dispel the fears of her liege lord,
and put calumny to the blush for ever. Andy Bawn
" breathed again ; " and the otter-killer was directed
to provide the necessary articles for the ceremony.

A skull was accordingly procured from a neighbouring
bury ing-ground ; and Andy's mother, anxious for the
honour of the family, threw into the relic a bunch of
keys — for iron, they say, adds desperately to the solemnity
of the obligation. The apparatus being paraded,
Antony explained in the mother tongue that the sins
of the lady or gentleman to whom the skull had once

* A favourite contre danse at the above assemblies,
^Anglice, half drunk,

222 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

appertained would be added to Miss Currigan's, if
she, Biddy, swore falsely ; and Mrs. Donahoo jingled
the old iron, and showed that she was " awake to time,"
and had left nothing on her part undone that could
give effect to the ceremonial. Miss Currigan, with
a step and bearing that might silence slander, advanced
under the direction of the otter-killer : — like a maid " in
the pride of her purity," she devoutly placed her hand
upon the skull — and Andy Bawn was made a happy man
for ever !

That the saints are often and scandalously overreached
by sinners, is a fact which must be admitted, and
lamented. One case of base dishonesty has but recently
occurred in the establishment of my cousin. A cook,
whom he had procured through the agency of a friend,
has proved a heavy defaulter, and, as Antony says,
" scandalized the family." For a considerable time
her conduct was unquestionable : she went regularly
to Mass, gave half-a-crown at Easter, never missed Con-
fessions, and, better still, conducted the culinary
department with excellent propriety, — so much so, that
Father Andrew declared from the altar that she was
an exemplary artiste and a capital Christian. " Frailty,
thy name is woman ! " This paragon of cooks levanted
one frosty night with a travelling pedler. Then, and
not till then, was the dark side of her character exhibited.
" She did not value Lent a traneein — had shared a rasher
with Sir Charles's man upon a blessed Friday — and,
if a skillet went astray, she would promise a pilgrimage
to the Reek for its recovery, without the least intention
of ever laying a leg upon that blessed hill."

The morning after her disappearance, her sins were
freely canvassed in the kitchen. " The Lord forgive

GHOSTS AND FAIRIES. 223

her ! " said the keeper, " for I can't ; she treated the
young dogs abominably. Spot will lose a claw ; and I
am sure it was Sibby, the devil speed her ! that scalded
him."

" She could hide a quart of spirits, and it would never
show upon her," cried Pattigo.

" She was mighty dangerous in a house," exclaimed
the black-eyed chamber-maid ; "I never settled the
master's room, but she was sure to pass the window."

" She's gone," said the otter-killer ; " there's worse
in the north than Sibby. Many a good bowl of broth
she gave me. Tho she mur tho she ; agus neil she gun
lought.* She was no great Catholic, it is true ! for she
owned to me last St. John's — and she hearty at the time
— that she was in debt Jour stations at Ball, and three
and twenty at Croagh Patrick ! She was, the crature,
a fine warrant for a promise, but the worst performer
under the canopy of heaven — she'll never," said the old
man, with his own peculiar chuckle, " clear scores with
the Reek and Father Nolan. In troth, I think it would
almost puzzle Bobby ! " This extraordinary being,
it should be explained, lived at the foot of Croagh Patrick,
and was the first performer (religious) of his day in
Connaught. He generally resided at the house of a
neighbouring gentleman ; and when a pilgrim visitor
was discouraged by the acclivity of the hill, or the
quantity of prayers to be got over, Bobby, jor a con-
sideration, undertook and executed the task. He was
not only a harmless, but, as may be well imagined, a
very useful personage ; and his death has left a blank
which has never yet been filled.

* Anglice, " She is as she is ; but she's not without her fault."

224

WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

The remains of poor Bobby, at his own request, were
transported to the summit of the mountain, and deposited
on the apex of Croagh Patrick, where he had so often
and so usefully performed. As he was laid where no
other body rested, the line intended for Sir John Moore,
would be probably more applicable to the hermit :

" They left him alone with his glory I "

DEER STALKING. 225

CHAPTER XXVIII.

IF a man were obliged to chronicle with brevity the
leading events of our terra incognita, I would advise him
to reduce them to " arrivals and departures." As the
door is never locked, the stream of visitors is incessant.
Every man coming from " the corners of the earth "
drops in with a " God save all here ! " This is the
Shibboleth of Ballycroy ; the accredited letter of intro-
duction, and, better for the traveller still, a full acquit-
tance for meat, drink, and lodging.

This morning we have had an illiterative arrival —
a piper, a pedler, and a priest. Although I place them
according to their order of approach, I need scarcely
say that the last, our respected friend, has given unex-
pected pleasure. For me, the visit is delightful, for I
hope to obtain another lesson in the " gentle art." The
Colonel has embraced this " Walton of the wilderness ; "
a man on whom four bottles would not show, and to
whom, in woodcraft and theology, in the commander's
opinion, the clerk of Copmanhurst himself was little
better than a bungler ; and, notwithstanding my
kinsman's delinquency in intercepting the despatches,
and abstracting the enclosure, he has escaped with a
tap or two upon the cheek ; for, as Antony declares,
" Father Andrew dotes upon the Master"

But a shepherd in breathless haste has rushed into the
cabin. By expressive signs, and a few words, he has
conveyed the intelligence to Mr. Hennessey that three
outlying deer are at this minute in a neighbouring glen.
He saw them in a valley, as he crossed the brow above.

Q

226 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

Nothing short of the landing of a French army or a
smuggler could occasion such confusion. The chamber
of state is invaded, rifles are uncased, shot exchanged
for bullets, a basket with refreshments packed : all is
hurry and preparation, and in an incalculably short
time we are ready for the fray, and in full march for the
mountains. Shakespeare, or he is belied, was in his
youth a deer fancier, and he would probably describe
this busy scene by " loud alarum, exeunt omnes.''

The day is particularly favourable, the sun shines
brilliantly, the sky is without a cloud, and if we even
miss the deer, I trust that the prospect from the mountain-
top will more than repay our labour in ascending it. The
party comprises three guns and some ten or twelve
drivers, with our guide. My kinsman and Hennessey
have rifles ; I am no marksman with a bullet, and I
declined to take one, and therefore must put my trust
in honest John Manton. We bend our course directly
to the mountain cleugh, where the deer were seen by
the peasant ; but when we reach the base of the hills,
we must diverge to the left, and make a considerable
dttour, and, judging from the appearance of the heights
to be surmounted, we have work cut out, which, before
our return to the hut, will tell what metal we are made

of.

Nor is the garrison during our absence left without
protectors. The colonel, the priest, the otter-killer,
and old John, there keep watch and ward. The former
twain appear to have sworn eternal friendship over a
three-legged table, and are settled tete-a-tete at either
side of the cabin window, with all the requisites for
fabricating flies displayed before them. Antony is
greasing his otter-trap beside the fire. He still indulges

DEER STALKING. 227

the vain hope that his rheumatism may be cured, and
that he will once more revisit the remoter loughs, where
otters are abundant, and where many of his happier
days were " lang syne " spent. Poor fellow ! his
hunting is ended, and his trap, like a warrior's sword,
must be laid aside, for age has come heavily upon its
master. Old John, " the last and trustiest of the four,"
has assumed his culinary apron, and from the strength
and array of his " materiel " it is clear that he calculates
little upon the red deer venison we shall bring home.

A smart walk of some three miles over an undulating
surface, of gentle but regular ascent, brought us to the
deep and circular lake which lies at the base of Carrig-a-
binniogh ; it seems the boundary between the hill-
country and the moorlands. Here we halted, and held
with the peasants a council of war on the course of
operations to be pursued.

The situation of this mountain lough is extremely
picturesque ; on three sides it is embosomed in the
hills, which rise boldly from the water's edge, and for
many hundred feet appear to be almost perpendicular.
Its depth is considerable, and hence bright as the day is,
the waters have a dark and sombre look. It abounds with
trout of moderate size and excellent flavour. They
were rising fast at the natural fly, and appeared generally
to be herring-sized.

While resting here, preparatory to attempting to ascend
the heights, Cooney, the guide, related a very apposite
adventure.

Late in the autumn of the preceding year the peasant
had visited the lake with his fishing-rod. The trout
took well, and Cooney had nearly filled his basket,
when he was startled by the report of a gun at no great

228 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

distance up the hill. While he looked in the direction
from whence the shot appeared to have been discharged,
a fine, full-grown stag crossed the brow above him,
tottered downwards for some twenty steps, and then,
falling into a steep and stony ravine, rolled lifelessly
over, until he reached the very spot where the astonished
fisherman was standing. Before his surprise had time
to abate, a man, armed with a French gun, leaped upon
the bank over which the deer had fallen, and was joined
immediately by a companion, armed also with a fowling-
piece. Then, for the first time, they observed the
startled angler. The discovery was anything but
agreeable ; for, after a momentary pause, they rushed
down the hill together, and presenting their long guns
at Cooney's breast, ordered him to decamp, in terms
that admitted of no demur. The angler absconded
forthwith ; for, as he reasoned fairly enough, " a man
who could drive an ounce of lead through a stag's skull,
would find little trouble in drilling a Christian."
On looking round, he saw the deer-stealers place the
carcass on their shoulders and ascend the heights, over
which they quickly disappeared. The feat is almost
incredible, and it required an amazing effort of strength
and determination to transport a full-grown red-deer
over a precipitous mountain, which we, in light marching
order, and with no burden but our guns, found a
difficult task enough to climb.

How did the poacher happen to be armed with a
French gun ? Well, when the French, under Humbert,
landed at Killala in the autumn of 1798, they brought
with them a large quantity of arms and military clothing,
to equip the numerous partisans they expected to have
found in the country. After the French general was

DEER STALKING. 229

defeated, and the insurrection had been put down,
many of the guns which had been distributed among the
peasantry, were buried, or effectually concealed ; and
they have been used in poaching and wild-fowl shooting
to the present time. The French barrels are said to
throw shot much better than those of English muskets.
I have never seen their relative merits proven, but
imagine that the superiority of the former is owing to
their greater length.

From its very base, Carrig-a-binniogh presents a
different surface to the moorlands which environ it ;
heath is no more seen, and in its place the mountain's
rugged sides are clothed with lichen and wild grasses.
The face of the hill is broken and irregular, and the
ascent rendered extremely disagreeable by multitudes
of loose stones which, being lightly bedded in the soil,
yield to the pressure of the traveller's foot, and, of
course, increase his difficulties.

After the first hundred yards had been gallantly
surmounted, we halted by general consent to recover
breath. Again, we resumed our labour, and, with
occasional pauses, plodded on " our weary way." As
we ascended, the hill became more precipitous, the grass
shorter, and the hands were as much employed as the
feet. The halts were now more frequent ; and each
progression towards the summit shorter after every
pause. " To climb the trackless mountain all unseen"
is very poetical, no doubt, but it is also, I regret to add,
amazingly fatiguing, and a task for men of thews and
sinews of no ordinary strength. But we were determined
and persevered — " en avant" was the order of the day ;
on we progressed, slowly but continuously ; the steepest
face of the hill was gradually overcome, and a wide

230 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

waste of moss and shingle lay before us, rising towards
a cairn of stones which marks the apex of the mountain.
We pressed on with additional energy ; the termination
of our toil was in view ; in a few minutes we gained the
top, and a scene, glorious beyond imagination, burst
upon us at once, and repaid tenfold the labour we had
encountered to obtain it.

We stood upon the very pinnacle of the ridge, two
thousand feet above the level of the sea ; Clew Bay,
that magnificent sheet of water, was extended at our
feet, studded with its countless islands : inland, the eye
ranged over a space of fifty miles ; and towns and
villages, beyond number, were sprinkled over a surface
covered with grass, and corn, and heath, in beautiful
alternation. The sun was shining gloriously, and the
variety of colouring presented by this expansive land-
scape was splendidly tinted by the vertical rays of light.
The yellow corn, the green pasturage, the russet heaths,
were traceable to an infinite distance, while smaller
objects were marked upon this natural panorama, and
churches, towns, and mansions occasionally relieved
the prospect. We turned from the interior to the west ;
there the dark waters of the Atlantic extended, till the
eye lost them in the horizon. Northward, lay the
Sligo islands ; and southward, the Connemara moun-
tains, with the noble islands of Turk and Boffin — nearer
objects seemed almost beneath us ; Achil was below —
Clare Island stretched at our feet — while our own
cabin looked like a speck upon the canvas, distinguished
only by its spiral wreath of smoke from the hillocks
that encircled it. There was an indescribable loneliness
around, that gave powerful effect to all we saw. The
dreariness of the waste we occupied was grand and

DEER STALKING. 231

imposing : we were far removed from everything
human ; we stood above the world, and could exclaim
with Byron, " this, this is solitude ! "

How long we might have gazed on this brilliant
spectacle is questionable. Hennessey, less romantic
than we, reminded us that it was time to occupy the
defile, by which the deer, if found, and driven from the
lowlands, would pass within our range. Thus recalled,
we looked at the immediate vicinage of the cairn. It
was a wilderness of moss and bog, and granite, barren
beyond description, and connected with the upper
levels of the Alpine ridge, which extended for miles at
either side, by a narrow chain of rock, which seemed
more like the topping of a parapet than the apex of a
line of hills. Indeed, a more desolate region could not
be well imagined ; — no sign of vegetation appeared,
if scathed lichens and parched and withered flag-grass
be excepted. The mountain cattle were rarely seen
upon these heights, and the footmarks upon the softer
surface were those of the deer and goats. Hennessey
discovered the tracks of a herd of the larger species,
which, from his acute observations, had evidently
crossed the ridge since sunrise, and must, from their
numerous traces, have amounted to at least a dozen.

While we still cast a " longing, lingering look " at
a scene which, I lament to say, I shall most probably
never be permitted to view again — a boy rose from the
valley towards the south, and hastened at full speed
to join us. His communication was soon made, and,
like the shepherd's at the cabin, pantomime rather than
speech conveyed its import. His tidings were momen-
tous ; the deer had moved from the place in which they
had been first discovered, and were now within one

232 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

thousand yards of the place where we were resting.
Hennessey and the gossoon* advanced in double quick,
and where the ridge is steepest between the highlands
and the valley, we observed them make a sudden halt
and creep gingerly forward to what seemed the brow
of a precipice. We followed more leisurely, and
adopting a similar method of approach, stole silently
on, and looked over the chasm.

The precipice we were on forms the extremity of a
long but narrow ravine, which, gradually rising from
the lowlands, divides the basis of Carrig-a-binniogh
and Meelroe. It was a perpendicular rock of fearful
height. At either side the valley was flanked by the
sides of the opposite hills ; and they sprung up so rugged
and precipitous as to be quite impracticable to all but
" the wild flock which never needs a fold " ; and yet the
cleugh below was like a green spot upon a wilderness.
To the very bases of the ridges it was covered with
verdant grass and blooming heather, while, at the upper
end, streams from several well-heads united together
and formed a sparkling rivulet, which wandered between
banks so green and shrubby, as formed a striking con-
trast to the barren heaths below and the blasted wilder-
ness above.

We put our hats aside, and peeped over. The wave
of Hennessey's hand proved the boy's report to be
correct, and we were gratified with a sight of those rare
and beautiful animals which formed the objects of our
expedition. They were the same leash which the peasant
had noticed in the lower valley — an old stag, a younger
one, and a doe.

The great elevation of the precipice, and the caution

* A nglice, boy.

DEER STALKING. 233

with which we approached the verge, permitted us,
without alarming them, to view the red deer leisurely.
They appeared to have been, as yet, undisturbed, for
after cropping the herbage for a little, the younger stag
and the hind lay down, while the sold hart remained
erect, as if he intended to be their sentinel.

The distance of the deer from the ridge was too
great to allow the rifle to be used with anything like
certainty ; and from the exposed nature of the hills
at either side, it was impossible to get within point-
blank range undiscovered. Hennessey had already formed
his plans, and drawing cautiously back from the ridge
he pulled us by the skirts, and beckoned us to retire.

We fell back about a pistol shot from the cliff, and under
a rock, which bore the portentous name of Craignamoina,*
held our council of war.

There were two passes, through one of which the deer,
when roused and driven from the glen, would most
likely retreat. The better of these, as post of honour,
was, more politely than prudently, entrusted to me —
my kinsman occupied the other ; and Hennessey, having
ensconced us behind rocks, which prevented our ambush
from being discovered, crossed to the other side of the
ridge, and I lost sight of him. Meanwhile, the boy had
been despatched to apprize the drivers that the deer
were in the ravine, and to notify the spot where we were
posted, to enable them to arrange their movements
according to our plans.

I will not pretend to describe the anxious, nay,

agonizing hour that I passed in this highland ambuscade.

The deep stillness of the waste was not broken by even

the twittering of a bird. From the place where I lay

* Anglice, the rock of slaughter.

234 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

concealed, I commanded a view of the defile for the dis-
tance of some eighty yards, and my eye turned to the path
by which I expected the deer to approach, until to gaze
longer pained me. My ear was equally engaged ; the
smallest noise was instantly detected, and the ticking of
my watch appeared sharper and louder than usual.
As time wore on, my nervousness increased. Suddenly
a few pebbles fell — my heart beat faster — but it was a
false alarm. Again, I heard a faint sound, as if a light
foot pressed upon loose shingle — it was repeated. By
Saint Hubert, it is the deer ! They have entered the
gorge of the pass, and approach the rock that covers me,
in a gentle canter !

To sink upon one knee and cock both barrels was a
moment's work. Reckless of danger the noble animals,
in single file, galloped down the narrow pathway. The
hart led the way, followed by the doe, and the old stag
brought up the rear. As they passed me at the short
distance of twenty paces, I fired at the leader, and, as
I thought, with deadly aim ; but the ball passed over
his back, and splintered the rock beyond him. The
report rang over the waste, and the deer's surprise was
evinced by the tremendous rush they made to clear the
defile before them. I selected the stag for my second
essay ; eye and finger kept excellent time, as I imagined
— I drew the trigger — a miss, by everything unfortunate !
The bullet merely struck a tyne from his antler, and,
excepting this trifling graze, he went off at a thundering
pace, uninjured.

Cursing myself, John Manton, and all the world,
I threw my luckless gun upon the ground, and rushed
to the summit of a neighbouring rock, from which the
heights and valleys beyond the gorge of the pass were

DEER STALKING. 235

seen distinctly. The deer had separated — the hart and
doe turned suddenly to the right, and were fired at by
my cousin, without effect. The stag went right ahead ;
and while I still gazed after him, a flash issued from a
hollow in the hill, the sharp report of Hennessey's
piece succeeded, and the stag sprang full six feet from
the ground, and tumbling over and over repeatedly,
dropped upon the bent grass with a rifle bullet in his
heart.

I rushed at headlong speed to the spot where the noble
animal lay. The eye was open — the nostril expanded,
just as life had left him. Throwing his rifle down,
Hennessey pulled out a clasp-knife, passed the blade
across the deer's throat, and, requesting my assistance
raised the carcass by the haunches, in order to assist its
bleeding freely.

Having performed this necessary operation, and
obtained the assistance of two of our companions from
the valley, whence they had been driving the deer, we
proceeded to transport the dead stag to the lowlands.
It was no easy task, but we accomplished it quickly ;
and perceiving some horses grazing at no great distance
we determined to press one for the occasion. A stout
pony was most unceremoniously put in requisition,
the deer laid across his back, and after emptying flask
and basket joyously beside a stream of rock-water,
we turned our faces to the cabin, where the news of our
success had already arrived.

236 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXIX.

WONDERFUL are the inventions of man ! The slaughter
of an unhappy stag has been made good and sufficient
cause for all the idlers of the community assembling at
our cabin. They are squatted round the fire like
Indians in a wigwam — and old John, no bad authority
in such matters, declares in a stage whisper to his master,
" that a four-gallon cag will scarcely last the night,
there is such a clanjamfry of coosherers in the kitchen
— the devil speed them, one and all ! " Let me explain
this phrase. It is used in Ireland to designate that useless
and eternal tribe, who are there the regular attaches of
families of ancient lineage. Nurses, fosterers, discharged
servants, decayed sportsmen, and idlers of every sex,
age, and calling, come under this description.

There was a higher class of nuisance under the title
of poor relations who formerly wandered over Connaught,
and from the interminable ramifications of the old
families, there were few houses into which these worthies
had not a right of entrde. The last one I recollect when
a boy, traversed the country upon a white pony,
dressed in dingy black, and arrayed in a cocked hat ;
a certain number of houses were under annual requi-
sition, and such was the influence of annual custom,
that none would venture to refuse this forced hospitality,
although the man was latterly a sad bore. Some gentle-
men, when their " loving cousin " was expected, had his
approach observed, and stopped him in the avenue with
an excuse that the house was full, and a subsidy of a
few guineas. The money was always acceptable —

A SPORTSMAN S DINNER. 237

and whoever unluckily happened to be next number on
the visiting list was favoured with one week additional
from my " Cousin Mac."

" Mac," with his Brigadier wig and white pony,
has gone the way of all flesh, and by travestying a line
of Sir Walter Scott, one could add : —

" The last of all the bores was he."

It was twilight when we got home. The deer had
arrived before us and was already hanging up, suspended
from the couples. A cheerful fire blazed in the room of
state, while exhilarating effluvia from the outer chamber
told that John's preparations were far advanced. We
had scarcely time to make our hurried toilet before
the table was covered, and Father Andrew, at the Colonel's
especial solicitation, favoured us with a Latin grace.

No one merits and relishes a good dinner better than
a grouse-shooter. It delights me to see my companion
eat like a traveller ; and to please me, he should possess
sufficient acumen to enable him to appreciate the fare.
I despise the man who is cursed with a Spartan palate,
and who hardly knows the difference between beef and
mutton ; and yet, in equal ratio, the gourmand is my
abomination. There is a limit in culinary lore beyond
which, as I opine, the sportsman should never travel.
Like a soldier, he will sometimes find it serviceable
to be able to direct the broiling of a steak and the com-
bination of a stew. To fabricate a curry, or even regu-
late a hash, may be tolerated ; and in a wild country like
Ballycroy, or the Scottish highlands, this knowledge will
frequently be " worth a Jew's eye ; " but everything
beyond this in kitchen accomplishments is detestable.
With one who composed omelets, and talked

338 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

scholarly of the materiel of a plum-pudding — and I
once had the misfortune to fall into a shooting party
afflicted with such a personage — I would consort no more
upon the heath than I would shoot with a cook or draw
a cover with a confectioner. And yet, with these
antipathies, I recommend the neophyte to make himself
in everything as independent as he can. A few practical
lessons are worth a world of precept : one week's
cooking on the moors will render him for life an adept ;
and if gun and angle fail him not, he will be able to
command a dinner, without owing to the devil the
compliment of a bad cook.

Did I wish to elucidate my opinions, I would stake
them upon two items in our bills of fare. The soldier
compounded the soup — and such soup ! — and yet it
was the simple extract of a mountain hare, and five
broken birds, which had been too much injured to
permit their being sent away. Shade of Kitchener !
one spoonful of that exquisite potage would have made
thee abandon half thy theories, and throw thy
" cunningest devices " to the winds !

The Priest superintended the fish — an eight-pound
salmon, crimped, split, sub-divided, and roasted upon
bog-deal skewers before a clear turf-fire. All the
sauces that Lazenby ever fabricated could not produce
that soup or emulate this broil. Let him, whose jaded
palate a club-house cook cannot accommodate, try
the cuisinerie of our cabin. He shall walk to the mountain
lake, and on his return, the Colonel will compose a soup,
and the Priest supply a salmon : if eating like a plough-
man be to him a pleasure —

"If these won't make him,
The devil take him ! "

A SPORTSMAN'S DINNER. 239

But, lest my theories be mistaken, I must say that I
hold cooking and " creature comforts " as very secondary
indeed to sport. If all can be had, so much the better ;
and when I recommend the tyro to learn the art and
mysteries of the broiling iron, it is precisely on the
principle that the knowledge how to cook a dinner may,
at times, be as necessary for him as to know how to wash
a gun. No man, I presume, will do either, who can
manage to have them done by a deputy. But a sports-
man, a keen, straightforward sportsman, will, of necessity,
be often left dependent upon his own resources, and hence
he should be prepared for the contingency. It is the
abuse I cry out against. A man who on the mountains
counts the minutes until dinner-hour shall come, who
is seeking an appetite rather than amusement, and
instead of game is dreaming of gourmanderie — him I
totally reject, and implore to lay aside his gun for ever,
and exchange the powder-flask for the pepper-box. The
latter he will find more useful, and not half so dangerous.
It was clear from the very start that this was to be
among the wettest nights of the season. The Colonel
settled himself for a comfortable carouse ; the Priest
was not the man to desert his buon camarado ; and
Antony declared that there was good cause for a general
jollification, as he properly observed that " it was not
every day that Manus kills a bullock," by which old
saw, I presume, the defunct deer and ourselves are
typified. No wonder, then, that the revel commenced
with all the members of the body politic ; and whilst
the contents of the " four-gallon keg " were invaded
in the kitchen, the wine circulated rapidly in the chamber
of state. In truth, during my short but chequered
life, civil and military, I never saw a party evince an

240 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

honester disposition to drink jair. No coquetry about
filling ; no remonstrances touching " heeltaps and
skylights ; " — round went the bottle, until the juice
of the grape appeared too cold a fluid for such mercurial
souls, and a general call for a more potent liquid was
given and obeyed.

Now came " the sweet hour i' the night," and old
Care might, if he pleased, have " hanged himself in
his own garters." The Priest, whose voice must once
have been remarkably fine, and who certainly never
impaired it much by " hallooing psalms," sang national
melodies, or joined the Colonel and my cousin in glees
and catches, which, as Wamba says, were not " ill-sung."
" Fast and furious " the mirth proceeded, while, " every
pause between," clouds of tobacco rose like a mist-
wreath, and overspread the company with a canopy of
vapour.

For my own part, every prudential resolution
vanished with the first catch ; and it was not till a certain
unsteadiness of vision discovered that I had reached that
felicitous state when no twelve honest men, upon oath,
would certify my sobriety, that I mustered courage to
retreat. I felt that, had I remained much longer, I
was likely to become hors de combat ; and, lighting
a cigar, left the cabin to breathe the fresh air, which long
since had been superseded in the banqueting-room by
an atmosphere of genuine cannastre.

It was a mild, calm, dark night, and such a one feels
delicious in the hills. Two or three solitary stars were
feebly twinkling in the sky, though, were the truth told,
probably there was but one. I took the pathway leading
to the river, and sat down upon the banks, to " blow
my cloud " in solitude. I was not, however, permitted

A SPORTSMAN S DINNER. 241

to muse alone ; my kinsman immediately joined me,
and settling himself upon one of the masses of turf,
which the floods tear from the banks of the stream, and
leave, when their violence subsides, upon the verge of
the river, replenished his meerschaum.

" How refreshing," he said, " to exchange that
mephitic air within for this mild but bracing night-
breeze ! I saw you pass the glass, and I desired John
to bring us out some coffee. It is a queer place, too,
for a Mocha fancier to indulge in ; but this is the charm
that binds me to the mountains. In life, locality is
everything ; it is not the what one does, it is the where.
Venison at a city feast is an every-day concern ; and the
best haunch in England would not have the gusto of the
red deer's that hangs from the roof within. Common
comfort in a wilderness like this, from the barrenness
of all around, receives a zest, which nothing in civilized
society can realize, and ' voild Vexemple* "

Lighted by a peasant with a bog-deal torch, that
emitted more light than forty candles together, the old
man approached us with his tray. Coffee taken in the
open air, " in darkness palpable," into which the
powerful blaze of the torch which our bare-legged
attendant held could but feebly penetrate, asso-
ciated with the place and company, made an impression
on my fancy that will not be readily obliterated.

But hark ! the Priest pitches that manly and melodious
voice — he strikes up poor Burns's inimitable lyric, " Then
are we met." That matchless song was surely written
for such a voice and such a company !

Under cover of the Priest's melody we approached the
window. There sat a party, who might well put the
Temperance Society to the blush. For their years,

R

242 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

I suspect there was not a healthier, and I will swear not a
happier, trio in the King's dominion. It was just the
scene a Flemish artist would select to employ his pencil
on. For effect, the light was excellent : the candles
having been removed to the extremity of the apartment,
the bacchanalian group were revealed by the red and
mellow blaze of a brilliant wood-fire. Separated by
a table, provided with every requisite for a deep carouse,
sat the soldier and the churchman. The back of the
latter was turned to the window, but his amplitude of
shoulder and bull-neck at once bespoke the strength
for which he was remarkable, while the partial baldness
of his head told that he had passed life's meridian. The
tall and martial figure opposite contrasted well with the
churchman's. Older by some half-score years, he
might, like Jack Falstaff, be " some fifty, ay, or, by the
mass, threescore ! " but his age was green ; and not-
withstanding the wear and tear that a military life and
its occasional excesses had caused, his cheerful coun-
tenance and merry eye showed that he loved yet to hear
" the chimes at midnight." The otter-killer com-
pleted the group : sitting on a low stool, from time to
time he regulated and supplied the wood-fire ; his
silver hair collected in a long cue, seal-skin pouch,
singular dress, and venerable ah", made him the most
striking figure of the party. A little terrier bitch, who
never left her master, lay at the old man's feet, while
an indulged black setter luxuriated before the blaze, with
his intelligent head and pendulous silky ears rested
on the Colonel's knee.

" Is not that indeed a picture ? " whispered my
cousin. " What heads they have ? John placed
yonder bottle before them as I went out, and two parts

A SPORTSMAN'S DINNER. 243

of it are gone already. But, hush ! let us hear the
conversation. I think if there be strength in poteen
the Colonel has reached the moralising point."

" Andrew," said the commander. (" The Colonel,"
said my kinsman, aside, " is generally hard screwed when
he calls the Priest Andrew.")

" Andrew, fill the glass : the boys are ruminating
beside the river ; their young blood is hotter than ours,
so we'll stick to the ingle-side and the tumbler. There
was a day when we could bring a stag to the ground,
and scramble up Carrig-a-binniogh as stoutly as the
best of them, — but that day s gone : we have changed
for the worse, and so has everything. Andrew, in our
youth it was a merry world. But who succeeded old
Markham ? He was as honest a divine as ever finished
a magnum. They talked — for virtue has always its
enemies — of his smuggling a little, and having a private
still in the stable ; but it was all hospitality. Andrew,
the poteen is sweet, but weak — help it, man, for these
glasses scarcely hold a thimbleful ! — at our age water-
drinking won't do. — Not a drop of brandy, you say
inside the Mullet ? "*

" Not an anker in the barony 1 " returned his com-
panion, with a heavy sigh. " There was a time when my
poor cabin could not be taken short for Nantz and
Hollands ; but if I can keep a bottle of the native now,
it is the most. Would you believe it, Colonel ? the
revenue people searched my house a month ago."

The Colonel looked indignant. " Search your house ?
profane a Priest's own dwelling ? Why, after a while

* The grand boundary of the wild peninsula of Erris, separating
it from the interior counties. It is used in a general sense to describe
the district — as " within or without the Mullet."

244

WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

they'll look into the Lodge. Did you curse the scoun-
drels from the altar ? "

" Not I," said the churchman. " They are all north-
men* and foreigners, who would not care a brass button
whether I banned or blessed them for a twelvemonth.
There is a ruffian of the flockf that acts as a spy and
guide, and I suspect he sent them."

" Excommunicate him ! " exclaimed the commander,
with drunken solemnity.

" I did that last Candlemas. He brought a girl out
of Achil, on book oath, and he with his three decent
wives in the parish already. I quenched the candles
on him, and then he took to the revenue — Nemo repente
juit turpissimus."

11 And how do you and the new minister get on ? "

" Poorly enough," answered the Priest. " This
reformation work has put the country clean asunder."

" No good will come of it," said the Colonel. " I
mind the time in Connaught when no man clearly knew
to what religion he belonged ; and in one family the
boys would go to church and the girls to mass, or may be,
both would join and go to whichever happened to be
nearest. When I entered the militia, I recollect, the
first time I was ever detached from head-quarters, I
went with the company to Portumna. Old Sir Mark
Blake, who commanded the regiment, happened to be
passing through, and the night before he had had a
desperate drink with General Loftus at the Castle.
When I left Loughrea, I forgot to ascertain where I

* Northmen is a phrase not only applied to recent settlers from
the North of Ireland, but even to families who have been located
here tor centuries.

f The flock — -a Roman Catholic congregation is so termed in
Connaught,

A SPORTSMAN'S DINNER. 245

should bring the men on Sunday, and I thought this
a good opportunity to ask the question. I opened his
bedroom-door softly. ' Sir Mark,' says I, ' where
shall I march the men ? ' ' What kind of a day is it ? '
says he. ' Rather wet,' was my answer. ' It's like
the night that preceded it,' says he. ' Upon my con-
cience, my lad,' he continued, ' my head's not clear
enough at present to recollect the exact position of
church and chapel ; but take them to the nearest' That
is what I call," and the Colonel shook his head gravely,
" real Christian feeling."

" Real Christian feeling," said the Priest, with a groan
" is nearly banished from the world. When I went
first to Castlebar, to learn Latin from Dan Donovan,
my uncle Martin, God be merciful to him ! was parish
priest, and Jack Benton was the minister. They agreed
like sworn brothers, and no one dared say a word against
either in the presence of his friend. Where the priest
dined, the curate was sure to be also. They lived in
true brotherhood ; and when one happened to be the
worse of liquor, why the other would not leave him for
a bishopric. The town was the most peaceable place
in Connaught ; and how could it be otherwise with such
an example ? Many a night I went before them with
a lantern, when they carried Carney, the lame fiddler,
round the streets, to serenade the ladies. There they
would walk like humble Christians, with the cripple
in the middle, and neither caring a traneein whether
popery or protestantism was at the head of the barrow.
Those were blessed days, Colonel. — I'll thank you
for the canister, — that tobacco is excellent, and I'll try
another pipeful."

" Och hone ! " exclaimed the otter-killer, " isn't it

246 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

a murder to see the clargy making such fools of them-
selves now ! When I was young, priest and minister
were hand-and-glove. It seems to me but yesterday,
when Father Patt Joyce, the Lord be good to him ! lent
Mr. Carson a congregation."

" Eh ! what, Antony ? " said the Colonel. " A
congregation appears rather an extraordinary article to
borrow."

" Faith," said the otter-killer, " it's true. I was there
myself, and I'll tell you the story. It was in the time
of Bishop Beresford, that beautiful old man, — many a
half-crown he gave me, for I used often to bring game
and fish to the palace from the master's father. He was
the handsomest gentleman I ever laid my eyes on ; and,
och hone ! it was he that knew how to live like a bishop.
He never went a step without four long-tailed black horses
to his carriage, and two mounted grooms behind him.
His own body-man told me, one time I went with a
haunch of red-deer and a bittern to the palace, that never
less than twenty sat down in the parlour, and, in troth,
there was double that number in the hall, for nobody
came or went without being well taken care of.

" Well, it came into old Lord Peter's head that he
would build a church, and settle a colony of nortkmen
away in the West. Faith, he managed the one easy
enough ; but it failed him to do the other, for devil
an inch the northmen would come ; for, says they,
' Hell and Connaught's bad enough, but what is either
to Connemara ? '

" Well, the minister came down, and a nice little
man he was, one Mr. Carson. Father Patt Flyn had the
parish then, and faith, in course of time they two became
as thick as inkle-weavers.

A SPORTSMAN'S DINNER. 247

" Everything went on beautiful, for the two clargy
lived together. Father Patt Flyn minded his chapel
and the flock, and Mr. Carson said prayers on a Sunday,
too, though sorrow a soul he had to listen to him but
the clerk — but sure that was no fault of his.

" Well, I mind it as well as yesterday, for I killed
that very morning two otters at Loughnamucky, and the
smallest of them was better to me than a pound note.
It was late when I got down from the hills, and I went to
Father Patt's as usual, and who should I meet at the
door but the priest himself. ' Antony,' says he, ' ceade
fealteagh, have you anything with you, for the wallets
seem full ? ' * I have,' says I, your ' reverence ' ; and
I pulls out two pairs of graziers,* and a brace of three-
pound trouts, fresh from the sea, that I caught that
morning in Dhulough. In these days I carried a
ferret, besides the trap and fishing-rod, and it went
hard if I missed the otters but I would net rabbits,
or kill a dish of trout. ' Upon my conscience,' says the
priest, ' ye never were more welcome, Antony. The
minister and myself will dine off the trouts and rabbits
for they forgot to kill a sheep for us till an hour ago ;
and you know, Antony, except the shoulder, there's
no part of the mutton could be touched, so I was rather
bothered about the dinner.'

" Well, in the evening, I was brought into the parlour,
and there were their reverences as cur coddiogh\ as you
please. Father Patt gave me a tumbler of rael stiff
punch, and the divil a better warrant to make the same
was within the province of Connaught. We were just
as comfortable as we could be, when a currier^ stops at

* Young rabbits. -fAnglice, comfortable.

%Ahas, courier.

248 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

the door with a letter which he said was for Mr. Carson.
Well, when the minister opens it, he got as pale as a
sheet, and I thought he would have fainted. Father
Patt crossed himself. ' Arrah, Dick,' says he, ' the
Lord stand between you and evil ! is there anything
wrong ? ' ' I'm ruined,' says he ; ' for some bad
member has wrote to the bishop, and told him that
I have no congregation, because you and I are so intimate,
and he's coming down to-morrow, with the dane, to see
the state of things. Och, hone ! ' says he, ' I'm fairly
ruined.' ' And is that all that's frettin' ye ? ' says the
priest, ' Arrah, dear Dick ' — for they called each other
be their cristen names, — ' is this all ? If it's a congrega-
tion ye want, ye shall have a decent one to-morrow,
and lave that to me ; — and now we'll take our drink,
and not matter the bishop a fig.'

" Well, next day, sure enough, down comes the bishop,
and a great retinue along with him ; and there was Mr.
Carson ready to receive him. * I hear,' says the bishop,
mighty stately, ' that you have no congregation.' ' In
faith, your holiness,' says he, ' you'll be soon able to
tell that,' — and in he walks him to the church, and there
were sitting threescore well-dressed men and women,
and all of them as devout as if they were going to be
anointed ; for that blessed morning, Father Pa.t whipped
mass over before ye had time to bless yourself, and the
clanest of the flock was before the bisi.op in the church,
and ready for his holiness. To see that all behaved
properly, Father Patt had hardly put off the vestment,
till he slipped on a cota more,* and there he sat in a
back sate like any other of the congregation. I was
near the bishop's reverence ; he was seated in an arm-

* Anglice, a great-coat.

A SPORTSMAN S DINNER. 249

chair belonging to the priest. — ' Come here, Mr. Carson,'
says he ; ' some enemy of yours,' said the sweet, old
gentleman, ' wanted to injure you with me. But I
am now fully satisfied.' And turning to the dane,
' by this book ! ' says he, ' I didn't see a claner congre-
gation this month of Sundays ! ' '

" He said no such thing" exclaimed my kinsman, who,
tired with the prolixity of the otter-killer, had inter-
rupted the finale of the tale. " How dare you Antony,
put such uncanonical and ungentlemanly language in
the mouth of the sweet old man? Here, John, clear
the kitchen. Out with the piper, and chuck the keg
after him. We'll disperse this congregation ; and they may
dance outside if they please, while pipes and poteen
stand them. And now, ventilate the cabin, open door
and window, and sling our hammocks as soon as
possible."

Agreeably to this mandate, the kitchen company
were ejected with scanty ceremony ; the Colonel and
the Priest retired to their respective beds with wonderful
steadiness : while we took possession of our marquee,
which, under existing circumstances, was Paradise itself
compared with the cabin, whilch smoking, drinking,
and cooking had rendered everything but agreeable.

250 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXX.

FOR a considerable time after we had retired to our
cots, the ball was kept up with unabated spirit upon
a piece of level sward beside the river. The whisky
appeared to affect the company differently, and indi-
vidual propensities were strikingly developed. Some
of the boys were particularly amative, and the rude
love-making we overheard at times amused us much ;
others betrayed a pugnacity of spirit which nothing
but the master's propinquity repressed. By degrees
the company began to separate : the piper, whose notes
for the last half-hour had been exceedingly irregular,
now evinced unquestionable symptoms of his being
" done up" Instead of the lightsome and well-sustained
jig, strange and dolorous noises issued from the chanter,*
and, as one of the fair sex observed, who, by the way,
in passing, tumbled over the tent cords, — " Martin
was totally smothered with spirits, and a body could no
more dance to his music than do the Patre o' pee to
acoronach at a wake."

It was well that this failure in the orchestral depart-
ment brought the ball to a close, for at midnight the
rain began to fall, and towards morning it came down
in torrents. We were obliged to rise and slack the
tent-cords ; but the marquee was a double one, and
perfectly water-tight, and, as the cots were slung from
upright posts at least a foot from the ground, we suffered
no inconvenience from the rain, except the noise it made
in rattling on the tense canvas. This, however, we
* The principal or finger-pipe of the set.

WILD CATS. 251

soon became accustomed to, and slept till eight o'clock,
as sound as watchmen.

Long before we turned out, the Colonel and Priest
were afoot, and we heard a prayer and supplication from
the commander to old John for a cup of strong coffee,
while an idler was despatched to the next well by the
churchman for a jug of cold spring water. Pattigo,
who had rambled up the hills with a basket of fish and
scallops, remarked, " that the gentleman's coppers, he
guessed, were rather hot this morning, and," as he eyed
the empty bottles which were being removed, "to judge
from the number of the marines, it was little wonder."

From Pattigo 's parlance, I suspected that he had seen
more of the world than usually falls to the lot of an
ordinary skipper of a fishing-boat — nor was I wrong.
I learned from his master that for some good conduct,
no doubt, he had been accommodated with board and
lodging in a king's ship for upwards of two years, and
that his sojourn there would have been much longer,
had he not managed to abridge the visit, by slipping
one dark night over the vessel's side, and swimming
to the shore, a distance of two miles. On this Byronian
feat, however, the honest navigator seldom plumes
himself, and it is only when he is " a bit by the head,"
that this exploit is mentioned.

We found the household fully occupied in the cabin ;
John in regulating the chamber of state, which, not-
withstanding open doors and windows, still retained
the miasma of tobacco-smoke, and Hennessey in skinning
and breaking up the deer. If I had been yesterday
delighted with his superior execution with the rifle,
I was now surprised at the masterly manner in which
he dressed and dismembered the venison. He is

252

WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

certainly a clever fellow, and could I but forget that he
has finished a few of " the finest peasantry upon earth,"
the man would stand as high in my estimation as he
does in his foster brother's, " our loving cousin."

When breakfast was ended, at which, to do them
justice, the Colonel and the Priest did their devoir most
gallantly, and were occupied in debating what should
be the order of the morning's amusement, and to fish,
or not to fish, appeared the question, an incident such as
in this wild and sylvan state of things every day produces,
occurred. It was the arrival of a young lad, who brought
an otter-skin of unusual size as a present to " the master,"
and a wounded hand, whereon Antony was required to
exercise his leechcraft. He had been bitten by a wild-
cat, and I had the curiosity to examine the wound.
The hand was already in a state of high inflammation ;
and the ferocity of the creature must indeed have been
extraordinary, to judge from the extent of the injuries
it had inflicted. The flesh was sadly lacerated, and in
two places the bone was completely exposed.

The sufferer, it appeared, was not unknown to Antony,
and, from the free-masonry which passed between them,
I discovered that he is of the same craft, and the person
upon whom the otter-killer's mantle is likely to descend,
when he, Antony, shall have gone the way of all flesh.
The chief occupation of the wounded man is digging
out foxes in the mountains, which he brings afterwards
for sale to the interior, and disposes of at a good price
to the masters of hounds. This morning he had gone
to a cover in the hills, in his usual avocation, when,
from some traces he observed beneath a rock, he con-
cluded that an animal was earthed there. Having put
a terrier in, his suspicions were confirmed, as the dog

WILD CATS. 353

came out severely torn, and, assisted by a shepherd-
boy, he laid rabbit-nets round the den, commenced
digging, and, before he had proceeded far, a cat of
immense size bolted. She was breaking through the
rabbit-net, when the chasseur, with more gallantry than
prudence, seized her by the neck. The fierce animal
instantly attacked him in turn, and, fastening upon
his hands with teeth and talons, held her desperate
grasp until the boy, with the edge of the spade, broke
her back. They brought the dead beast along with them ;
it was of a dirty gray colour, double the size of the
common house-cat, and its teeth and claws more than
proportionately larger.

These animals, fortunately, are scarce, and generally
frequent the neighbourhood of rabbit-warrens, where
they prove amazingly destructive. Hennessey, two
winters since, discovered a den in a cleft of a rock upon
the shore, and adjoining the sand-banks, which are
numerously stocked with rabbits. It cost him immense
trouble to penetrate to the form, where he killed a male
and female wild-cat, the latter being large with young.
Hennessey's patience and ingenuity were sorely taxed
to effect their destruction, having been obliged to resort
to gunpowder, and blow up a large portion of the rock,
before he could dislodge his dangerous game. In
size and colour they were precisely similar to the animal
killed in the mountain by the fox-catcher ; and had they
been permitted to continue their species, in a very short
time the adjacent burrow would have been devastated.

Besides this large and ferocious species, the warrens
upon the coast suffer much from the common cat becom-
ing wild, and burrowing in the rabbit-holes. They are
sometimes surprised and shot in the sand-banks, or taken

254 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

in traps ; but they are generally too wary to be
approached — and hunting only by night, during the
day they sleep in their dens, and are rarely met abroad.

Some estimate of their numbers may be formed
from the circumstance of five males having been killed
in a herdsman's out-house which joined the warren.
They had been attracted there by one of their own
species, and the noise having alarmed the peasant, he
guessed the cause, and cautiously managed to stop the
hole, by which they gained entrance, with a turf-cleave.
Knowing the value of the capture, he kept guard upon
the prisoners till morning, and then despatched infor-
mation to the Lodge. My cousin, with his followers,
promptly repaired to the place, and, surrounding the
barn with guns and greyhounds, bolted the wild cats
successively, until the whole number were despatched.
This chasse was not only novel, but profitable. After
the death of their persecutors, the rabbits increased
prodigiously, but fears are entertained that these
destructive animals are become once more abundant in
the sand-banks.

When the dressings were removed, we found that the
poor lad had been so much injured, that apprehension of
lock-jaw induced us to send him directly to the infirmary.
There is a belief, and one more reasonable than many
popular opinions in Ballycroy, that a wild-cat's bite is
particularly venomous. My cousin remembers a case
which terminated fatally with a servant of his father's ;
and the Priest mentioned another of a country girl, who,
finding one of these animals in a barn, rashly attempted
to secure it : the cat wounded her slightly in the leg,
and for six months she was unable to use the limb.
When the unfortunate fox-catcher was leaving us, in

WILD CATS. 255

return for a trifling donation, he pressed upon me the
acceptance of a fine deer-skin which he produced from
his wallet. " He had another for the master," he said,
" and he would bring it to him, when he returned from
the hospital."

" And pray, my friend, how did you get these skins ?"
The question puzzled the wounded man. " I found
them dead after the great snow last year."

" After a lump of lead," quoth the otter-killer, " had
made a fracture in the hide ; " and he pointed to the
orifice in the skin, where, evidently, a ball had per-
forated.

" Alas ! " said the Priest, " the snow is always fatal
to the red deer. They are obliged to leave the upper
range, and come down the villages :* and there are,
unluckily, too many of the old French guns in the country
still, and then they are unfortunately busy."

By the by, speaking of the snow, a very curious
circumstance occurred, during its long continuance in
1822.

A fine hind, accompanied by a stout fawn, travelled
across the lowlands in search of pasturage, which the
deep snow had rendered unattainable in the mountains.
Pressed by the severity of the weather, she at last
established herself in a green field which was within
sight of the windows of the Lodge. For four weeks,
during which the storm continued, she remained there
in safety ; for the wild visitors were protected by the
commands of " the Master " : and from being undis-
turbed, continued in the place they had first selected.

* By a village a very few houses are denominated, and a stranger
would be sadly disappointed if he formed his ideas of their extent
on the English scale.

256 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

Thinking that they would be a valuable addition to
Lord Sligo's park, my kinsman determined to have them
captured, and the following Sunday was appointed for
the attempt. This day was selected, because the
number of persons collected at the chapel would materially
assist the execution of the plan.

The day came, and the whole population of the parish
was employed. The place was surrounded by a mul-
titude of people, who gradually reduced their circle
until the deer and fawn were completely enclosed,
and a cordon of living beings was formed, two deep,
around them. The hind had remarked the preparations,
and more than once attempted an escape ; but, embar-
rassed by the fawn, her efforts were abortive. She
appeared determined to share its fate, and affection was
paramount to timidity . At last , when totally surrounded ,
her courage and address were almost incredible. She
eyed the circle attentively, made a sharp, peculiar noise,
as if to warn her offspring of its danger, then, charging
the ranks where they appeared weakest, bounded over
the heads of her opposers and escaped. The confusion
occasioned by this extraordinary proceeding favoured
the deliverance of the fawn, who, profiting by the
accident, galloped off unhurt, and, with the dam, suc-
ceeded in regaining their native wilds.

The whole of the dramatis personce, with the exception
of the otter-killer and myself, have gone off to fish some
three or four lakes, situate in a hollow in the mountains,
and which are said to be remarkable for the number
and flavour of their trout. I have been prevented by
an accident from accompanying the party ; and though
my wound be " not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
church-door," it still renders me hors-de-combat. I

WILD CATS.

257

blistered, or rather neglected, a blistered heel : and the
fag of yesterday has so excoriated the surface, as to
make it imperative upon me to lie by for a little. Antony
engages to effect a perfect cure by to-morrow ; and here
I remain tete-d-te'te with the otter-killer.

The old man proceeded skilfully enough ; he lanced
the blisters, and then applied the cuticle which covers
a sheep's kidney, and which is very similar in appear-
ance and effect to what we call " gold-beaters' leaf."
This application prevented the heel from being frayed
by the stocking. To the remainder of the foot he
rubbed a hot mixture of tallow and whisky ; and his
remedy was " the sovereignest thing on earth," for in
twelve hours the cure was effected.

While he operated on my infirm foot, he amused me
with one of his interminable stories. He says, by the
" mother's side," that I and my cousin are descended
from a lady called Rose Roche. When his leech-craft
was ended he retired " to stretch upon the bed." — John
was too deeply engaged in culinary affairs to favour me
with his company, and having no resource besides,
I have been obliged to amuse myself by transcribing
the legend oj Rose Roche, and become thus a chronicler
of the otter-killer.

WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE.

AT sixteen Rose Roche was the loveliest maid in Ulster.
In infancy she was found exposed at the gate of the
Ursulines, and her beauty and destitution recommended
her to the charity of the sisterhood. Educated, accord-
ingly, for a conventual life, she had never passed the
boundary of the garden- walls, and accident discovered
the existence of beauty, which else had faded unseen
and unadmired within those cloisters, to which from
childhood it had been devoted.

Cormac More, Lord of Iveagh, was the patron and
protector of the community at Balleek. At primes
and vespers a mass was celebrated for his soul's weal.
His Easter-offering was ten beeves and five casks of
Bordeaux wine; and on the last Christmas vigil he
presented six silver candlesticks to the altar of Our Lady.
No wonder that this powerful chief was held in high
honour by the sisterhood of Saint Ursula.

One tempestuous night in October, wearied with
hunting, and separated from his followers by darkness
and the 'storm, Cormac More found himself beneath the
walls of the convent of Balleek. Approaching the
gate, he wound his horn loudly, and begged for shelter
and refreshment. Proud of this opportunity of affording
hospitality to so noble and munificent a protector, the
wicket was unbarred, the Lord of Iveagh admitted, and
received in honourable state by the Lady Superior,
and inducted with due form into the parlour of the

Ursulines.

There a plentiful repast was speedily prepared, and

THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 259

the tired hunter was ceremoniously seated at the table.
His morning's meal had been despatched before the
sun had topped Slieve Gallion, and a long day's exercise
had given him a keen relish for the evening banquet.
The lady Abbess feasted the patron of her house right
nobly — he was attended on assiduously by the novices —
dish after dish succeeded in luxurious variety, until the
chief requested the tables to be drawn, and with knightly
courtesy entreated permission to pledge the holy
mother of the Ursulines in a deep draught of Rhenish
wine.

Then, for the first time, the novice who presented the
cup attracted the good knight's attention. The folds
of her thick veil could not conceal the matchless
symmetry of her form ; and, as she filled the chalice
from the flagon, the exquisite proportions of her hand
and arm struck Cormac More with wonder. At this
moment her drapery became entangled with the jewelled
pommel of the Knight's rapier ; a hasty attempt to
disengage it was unsuccessful — the veil fell and disclosed
to the enraptured view of the Lord of Iveagh the loveliest
features he had ever seen. Covered with blushes,
which heightened her surpassing beauty, the novice
caught her veil hastily up and retired from the parlour,
while the Knight, despite the evident displeasure that
the accident had caused the Lady Abbess, gazed after
the retiring girl until she disappeared among the cloisters.
In vain the proud Superior introduced costlier wines
of rare and ancient vintages : in vain she enlarged
upon the piety of her order, and enumerated the number
of the Ursulines who had been canonized • — the Knight's
whole thoughts were engrossed with one lovely object
— his courtesy and converse were feeble and constrained,

26o WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

until, piqued by his neglect, the Abbess wished him a
fair repose, and retired in full state from the apartment,
preceded by a crucifix and taper, and followed by her
attendant nuns.

Although the Knight lay upon the Bishop's bed,
and occupied that honoured chamber where none of a
less degree than a mitred abbot had hitherto been per-
mitted to repose, no slumber sealed his lids, nor was the
beautiful novice for a moment absent from his thoughts.
Cormac More had declined many a splendid alliance ;
the Lord of Offal y proffered him an only sister, with
a princely dower ; and O'Nial himself courted him for
a son-in-law, and promised him the barony of Orier,
and Blanche, his fairest daughter. But, till now,
Cormac had never loved : the beauteous cup-bearer
seemed to him a being of another world ; the more he
dwelt upon her image, the more his passion was excited,
alliances with lords and princes were overlooked,
disparity of rank and fortune was forgotten, and, ere the
morning sun had lighted the storied window of the
Bishop's chamber, the Knight's determination was
formed, and matins were scarcely over when he demanded
an audience of the Lady Abbess.

Never was there greater surprise than that with which
the holy mother heard Cormac More express his passion
for the novice of the Ursulines. Joy sparkled in her
eyes as the noble Lord of Iveagh confided the secret
of his love, entreated her powerful intercession, and
begged for her sanction to his nuptials. As Rose was
still unprofessed, there existed no spiritual barrier to
her marriage. Flattered by the high honour conferred
upon her house by the proudest baron of the Pale
selecting a bride from the holy sisterhood, the Superior

THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 26 1

willingly acceded to his request ; his offers were accepted,
and, ere the vesper-bell had tolled, the preliminaries
were completed, and the fair novice had consented to
become the bride of Cormac More.

But, alas ! the wild ardour of the good Knight, and
the carnal motives of the Abbess, caused both to neglect
consulting another personage, namely, the blessed
Ursula herself, in thus disposing of one devoted to her
service from the cradle ; and the Saint felt the over-
sight. That night the Abbess was tormented with
fearful and portentous dreams ; the Lord of Iveagh
tossed restlessly upon the Bishop's bed ; and, if the novice
closed an eye, her slumbers were broken with strange
and incoherent visions. In vain, next day, the Knight
hunted from sunrise to curfew — his hounds were eternally
at fault, and his followers appeared besotted or bewitched ;
the deer, when pressed to the utmost, vanished on the
bare moor ; and knight, squire, and yeoman unani-
mously agreed that the several parties interested in the
chase were under the immediate influence of the Prince
of Darkness.

Nor did the holy Superior of the Ursulines fare better
than the persecuted Knight and his afflicted com-
panions. Everything about the convent went astray, and
the culinary preparations for entertaining the Lord of
Iveagh were awfully interrupted by accident and for-
getfulness. The sister who presided over the pastry,
and whose conserves, throughout a long and blameless
life, had been pronounced unique and irreproachable,
now actually omitted the necessary ingredients ; the
soup, when uncovered for a second, was invaded with
such a discharge of soot, as reduced it, in colour, at least
to an equality with the broth of Sparta The nun at

262 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

the organ, instead of a " jubilate," struck up a " nunc
dimittis ; " the very bells were " jangled out of tune ; "
and the Lady Abbess was horrified by a succession of
prodigies that, from her novitiate to her promotion,
had never before visited the quiet residence of the
sisterhood of Saint Ursula.

What were the nocturnal visitations inflicted upon
the lovely novice have not been exactly handed down.
One thing alone is certain, — she visited the Lady Abbess
with the first dawn, and in her maternal bosom the bride
elect deposited the causes of her sorrow.

In this perplexity, the Knight and the Superior held
secret counsel in the parlour of the convent, and long
and difficult was the conference. The result was,
that Cormac More vowed a golden chalice to the offended
virgin ; and the Abbess, not to be outdone in liberality,
agreed to double aves and credos for a fortnight. But
with Rose Roche herself the chief difficulty was found
to lie. All measures proposed by the holy mother
were inefficacious ; and, in this desperate dilemma,
it was deemed advisable to add to the number of coun-
sellors, and the Prior of the Dominicans was summoned
to the assistance of the conclave.

To that holy man the exigencies of the respective
parties were intrusted. The Prior was sorely disturbed
with doubts, but after a night's deliberation, during
which he discussed a capon single-handed, and fortified
his stomach with a second scoup of Rhenish wine, he
decided that the Lord of Iveagh should add a flagon to
the chalice ; the Abbess should double her peniten-
tiaries for a month ; and Rose Roche undergo a private
penance, which he, the Prior, should communicate to
the lady alone.

THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 263

Never had such an alarming predicament a happier
termination ! The Knight had scarcely laid himself
upon the Bishop's bed, until a sweet and refreshing
slumber, blessed with the happiest visions, sealed his
eyes ; the Lady Abbess slept like a watchman ; and,
since she had first gathered wild-flowers in the convent
garden, never did the fair novice enjoy more delightful
dreams !

At last the bridal day arrived. The Lord of Iveagh
was attended by a splendid following. The bells rang
out a joyous peal, and the eleve of the Ursulines left the
home of her youth, escorted by three hundred horse-
men, the consort of the proudest baron of the Pale.
No lover could be more gallant than the noble husband
of Rose Roche. Fete succeeded fete, and feasting
continued in the castle of Cormac More from Michael-
mas to Advent.

Months passed away, and honeymoons cannot be
expected to last tor ever. Cormac More by degrees
resumed his hunting, and again involved himself in the
endless feuds and warfare ot these restless times ;
and Rose Roche was often deserted for the chase or the
field. She still was passionately loved ; but in the
bosom of a martial baron, other and sterner feelings
held a predominance. It is true that the young bride
bore these frequent absences with wonderful resigna-
tion ; and page and tirewoman confessed in secret that
Dhu Castle was gayer and merrier when Cormac and his
stern companions were away.

A year wore on. The Lord of Iveagh was pensive
and thoughtful ; a cloud would often gather on his brow,
and his bearing to his beautiful wife became chilling
and repulsive. It transpired that two circumstances

264 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

occasioned his anxiety. His lady wore a curious-
fashioned coif, which concealed her tresses as effectually
as if she never laid aside her night-cap ; and the cherished
hope of an heir to his ancient line now faded in the
heart of Cormac More. Dhu Castle became duller
and more gloomy — the fair Baroness was more and more
deserted — the chase and banquet were preferred by the
moody Knight to soft dalliance in his " lady's bower," —
and any pretext was gladly resorted to which offered
an excuse for being absent from his joyless home.

Gentlewomen, in these perilous days, acquired and
possessed an astonishing portion of philosophy. No
baron's lady " in the Pale"* submitted to a frequent
separation from her lord with more laudable submission
than Rose Roche. The customary resource of " wives
bereaved " appeared anything but consolatory to the
dame. She determined to avoid crying, as being an
un-Christian waste of beauty — and, instead of useless
lamentations, she wisely substituted mirth and
minstrelsy.

There was not a more accomplished bard in Ulster
than Connor O'Cahan, and for seventy years he had
resided with the Lords of Iveagh. No tale or tradition
connected with this puissant race was unknown to
this gifted minstrel : yet, by some strange infirmity of
taste, young Rose preferred the light romances of her
lord's English page to all the legendary lore of the
grey-haired harper ; and listened with more delight

* The Pale was the line of demarcation drawn by the English
settlers between their acquired possessions and the remoter districts,
which were still permitted to remain with the ancient proprietors.
As this boundary was the " debatable land " of Ireland, it was the
scene of constant raid and skirmish ; and the locale of many a wild
tradition is placed beside this dangerous border.

THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 265

to a merry roundelay from Edwin's lute than to the deeds
of Cormac's grandfather, as set out in song by Connor
O'Cahan. The bard, it is true, was blind, and the page
had the blackest eyes imaginable.

This unhappy predilection was not concealed from her
lord. His jealousy instantly took fire, and the handsome
page was suddenly removed, and none knew whither.
The absence of an heir had now become matter for
serious complaint : it was whispered among the Baron's
followers that there was no cause for hope, and malici-
ously insinuated, moreover, that the close coif adopted
by the dame was worn to conceal some natural deformity.
Cormac, a slave to suspicion, and instigated by his rude
companions, insisted that the hood should be discarded,
or that Rose Roche should retire in disgrace to the
convent from whence she came.

On the alternative being proposed, the lady proved
positive, and the coif was peremptorily retained.
Cormac, irritated by opposition to his commands,
was obstinate in his determination, and Rose Roche
left the Castle of her lord a repudiated wife, and once
more returned to the convent of the Ursulines.

From the hour of their separation, the Baron seldom
smiled. To part from his wife was a trifle ; but,
unluckily, he had embroiled himself with the church.
The Abbess espoused the lady's quarrel fiercely, and
ave and credo were no longer offered up for Cormac
More ! Notwithstanding past largess, beeves and wine-
butts were forgotten ; the candlesticks upon the altar
no longer elicited a prayer ; and his soul's health was
no more attended to by the community than the lowest
horse-boys of his train.

Thus matters stood, when one dark evening, returning

266 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

from the chase, Cormac and his followers were surprised
by a band of Catterans, and a fierce and desperate
skirmish ensued. The outlaws were defeated, but the
Lord of Iveagh was shot clean through the body with
a three-foot arrow : and how could he have better
luck?

Then it was that the sinful Knight was tortured with
remorse and unavailing sorrow. He cursed the evil
counsellors who tempted him to insult Saint Ursula
and her adopted daughter, and, determining to be
reconciled to his wife and the church together, directed
his followers to carry him to the Abbey of Balleek. His
orders were obeyed, and the Lady Abbess consented
to admit the dying noble. He was laid before the
altar, and his injured wife, forgetting past resentment,
was the first to rush from her cell, and minister to his
relief. In the fatal emergency, coif and veil were left
behind ; her raven tresses fell below her shoulders,
and reached to her very waist, and Cormac was con-
vinced too late that his ill-used consort had the finest
hair in Christendom. Alas ! those ebon locks had been
the admiration of the whole sisterhood ; and, for pene-
tential purposes, the Dominican had enjoined their con-
cealment for three years, when he gave spiritual counsel,
in their hour of tribulation, to the Abbess, the Baron,
and Rose Roche.

To make atonement for his former unkindness, he
willed his rich domains to his beautiful widow. The
Prior of the Dominicans indicted the deed, which dis-
posed of his possessions ; and the church, of course,
was not forgotten. Surrounded by all the emblems of
religion, and with a splinter of the true cross in his
right hand, the penitent Baron breathed his last. He

THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 267

lay for three days and nights in the chancel, in great
state ; and was interred on the fourth morning, with all
the ceremonies that both Ursulines and Dominicans
could bestow.

The days of mourning passed over : Rose Roche
exercised her resignation ; and Dhu Castle became a
different place to what it had been during the latter days
of the defunct Baron, and mirth and music were ex-
changed for the rude revelry of Cormac More. Her
hall was rilled with guests ; at the board she did the
honours nobly ; and when she visited the green wood,
with her gold-belled hawks and gallant retinue, she
looked as if she had been ennobled from the Conquest,
and in bearing and attire seemed " every inch a queen."

But amid all this splendour and magnificence, poor
Rose had her own secret causes of inquietude. Beauty,
accompanied by broad lands, could not but induce
suitors without number to come forward, and never
was woman, not excepting Penelope herself, more
vigorously besieged. From past experience, Rose was
not ambitious to exchange wealth and liberty for becoming
the wife of some doughty baron, who would probably
undervalue her charms, just as much as he would over-
estimate his own great condescension in giving her
his name. A tender recollection of one, long since
lost, would cross her mind occasionally ; and in her
solitary hours the black-eyed page haunted her imagina-
tion. Accordingly, she eschewed all offers for her hand,
with excellent discretion. Few were offended, she
managed her rejections so prudently : and through the
first year of widowhood neither lands nor liberty were
lost.
The consort of the wise Ulysses herself could not

268 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

have held out forever. Rose was severely pressed ;
for, finding themselves foiled by her ready wit and good
discretion, when they attacked her singly, her lovers,
from necessity, agreed to coalesce, and determined that
one should be accepted, and the remainder be pledged
to support the acquired rights of the fortunate candi-
date, as report said King Henry had resolved to gift
a favourite noble with the person and estates of the
beautiful widow.

This agreement of her suitors was politely but decisively
intimated to Rose Roche, and the Prior declared, " by
the vestment," that to evade matrimony longer was
impossible. " She had," the holy man said, " an ample
list to choose from ; there were eleven suitors in the
neighbourhood, besides the Big Man oj the West,"
for so the Thane of Connaught was entitled .

In this extremity, the lady resolved to exercise, at
least, the privilege of free choice. The Prior was
directed to engross a bond, by which the respective
candidates for her hand bound themselves to grant
an uncontrolled right of selection to the widow, and
covenanted, moreover, neither to molest, nor permit
her to be molested, when her choice was made. The
deed was duly executed — the day for her decision was
named — and a reasonable time allowed for " the Big
Man of the West " to attend and try his fortune.

O'Connor was surprised when the determination of
the fair widow was communicated. He had only time
for a hurried preparation, as his rivals, from their vicinity
to the lady, had never taken the remoter situation of
" the Big Man " into their consideration, when they
named the day. O'Connor, however, was no sluggard ;
he collected his " following " with all haste, and every

THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 269

department was complete, when, alas ! the chief harper
fell sick without a cause, and no other was procurable
for a distance of sixty miles. In this dilemma a Saxon
youth, who two years since had been shipwrecked
beneath the castle walls, was recollected. He could not,
it is true, " strike the bold harp," but he had a sweet and
mellow voice, and his skill upon the lute was admirable.
In wordcraft he was a thorough proficient, and with
lance and brand had more than once proved himself
a man. O'Connor had no alternative, and the stranger
was selected to fill a place that " Cathwold O'Connor
of the harp " should have more worthily occupied.

Although the Thane of Connaught and his gallant
company pushed forward with all the speed that man and
horse could make, from bad roads and flooded rivers,
they were unable to reach the heights above Dhu
Castle until the sun of the eventful day had set. In
vain knight and squire pressed on their jaded steeds —
evening fell ; all the candidates besides had been in
the hall for hours, and, as " the Big Man " had not
appeared, according to modern parlance he was voted
present by the company, and the banquet was served.

Never with such heavy heart did Rose Roche assume
the place of honour. Though her hall was lighted
splendidly, and her table crowded with the proudest
nobles within " the Pale " — though rich wine flowed,
and the most skilful harpers in the province poured
forth their lays of love and war — yet one heart was
heedless of gaiety and grandeur ; and that one was hers
on whom every eye was bent, in deep expectancy,
awaiting her decision.

The curfew rang — and in another hour the happy
Lord of Dhu Castle would be proclaimed. As the

270 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

moments flew, the beautiful widow became paler and
more dejected ; and breasts which had never quailed
amid the roar of battle, now throbbed as nervously as
a maiden's, when she listens to the first tale of love.
The harps were mute, the revel became less loud, for
all were deeply interested in that event which a brief
space must determine. At this embarrassing moment,
a loud blast was heard at the grand gate, and the seneschal
rushed in, to announce the arrival of the Thane of
Connaught, attended by a noble following of, at least,
one hundred horse.

The sudden and opportune appearance of him of the
West seemed to affect the company variously. His
rivals heard the news with mingled feelings of jealousy
and alarm, which was in no way abated when the
number of his attendants was announced, which exceeded
that of their united folio wings. Rose Roche felt a
secret pleasure at his coming ; not that her sentiments
towards O'Connor were more favourable than to her
suitors generally, but his late arrival must necessarily
occasion some delay, and postpone, though but for brief
space, that dreaded moment when she should surrender a
hand, without a heart, to her future lord.

While O'Connor, as the greatest stranger, was placed
beside the lady of Dhu Castle, his bard stood behind
his master, and his train bestowed themselves where
they could best find room. As Rose Roche looked
carelessly around to see that the band were fitly accom-
modated, her eyes met those of the young minstrel : —
the blood rushed to her brow ; for, excepting those of
her own loved page, she never looked upon a pair so
black and sparkling as the stranger's.

When the Thane of Connaught had feasted to his

THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 2JI

heart's content, the Prior of the Dominicans produced
the parchment, to which his rivals had affixed their
signatures already. The " Big Man " listened atten-
tively as the Monk read it. " 'Tis all fair," he said,
as he placed his sign manual to the deed, " that lady
should choose her lord ; and thus I bind myself, faith-
fully to abide the intents of this parchment." Then
turning to Rose Roche, he thus proceeded : "It grieves
me that through accident I have unwittingly occa-
sioned some delay ; therefore, in pity to my gallant
competitors, I beg you, lady, to terminate this suspense,
and declare to this noble company the happy object
of your choice. — Nay, blanch not so, fair dame," for
the lady became pallid as the white marble of a warrior's
tomb : " exercise your own pleasure leisurely ; and
while I pledge thy matchless beauty in a cup of musca-
dine, Aylmer, my bard, shall sing a Saxon roundelay."
As he spoke, O'Connor signed to the minstrel, who,
rising at his lord's bidding, struck with a rapid hand
the prelude of a light romance, which, with a tremulous
but powerful voice, he thus gave words to : —

" Lady, farewell ! — the fatal hour
Has sped, for thus thy tyrant wills,
When he, who loves thee, leaves this tower,
Deserts gay hall and wood and bower
Of her, for whom his heart's pulse thrills ;
And thou art she — Juadye — sweet Ladye."

When the minstrel touched the prelude, Rose Roche
became visibly affected ; but when the words fell from
his lips, a burning blush dyed her cheeks and brow,
and her heart throbbed almost to bursting. Alas, it
was the very roundelay the poor page had sung beneath
her casement on that melancholy night when her
defunct lord had expelled him from the Castle ! She

2^2 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

turned hastily round to se who the stran e youth
might be who thus recalled her absent love in look and
voice so forcibly. Blessed Ursula ! it was he, the long-
lost page ! The minstrel, as he caught her eyes,
suddenly ceased his melody — the lute fell from his
nerveless grasp, and, overcome by feelings that could
not be controlled, he sank upon the bench behind him.
It was, indeed, young Aylmer. The well-remembered
features could never be forgotten, although the boy
had ripened into manhood — the thick down upon the
lip had changed to a dark moustache — and the belt
which once held a hunting blade supported now a
goodly brand.

The strange effect of the melody upon the lady, and
the minstrel's sudden indisposition, could not escape
remark ; a startling suspicion flashed across the minds
of the company, and, after a painful silence of some
minutes, Hubert de Moore rose from his seat, and bowing
to the very table, thus addressed the lady of the
castle :

" Wilt thou forgive the humblest but most devoted
of thy suitors, if he presume to remind you that the hour
has long since passed when your election should have
been made ? Far be it from me, noble dame, to seem
importunate ; but suspense is irksome to those that love,
and I and my brother nobles pray to you to signify your
pleasure, and end uncertainty at once."

While De Moore was speaking, Rose Roche appeared
to recover her self-possession wonderfully ; her eye
brightened, her colour came again, and the compression
of her lips proved that she was nerving herself for some
determined effort. She rose slowly and gracefully, while
a dead silence pervaded the hall ; faint and tremulous

THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 273

as the first words were, they were distinctly heard by
those remotest from the dais.*

" Noble lords," she said, " I own and thank your
courtesy : I ask this holy churchman if I am to exercise
free choice in this affair, unshackled with bar, or con-
dition, save my own leisure : and if he whom I shall
place here," and she pointed to the vacant seat beside
her own, which had been reserved for the successful
wooer, " shall be supported in all the rights and
properties which he shall obtain through me ? "

" All this," said the Prior, " is fairly stipulated in the
intents of this scroll."

" Then will I not trespass on your patience, noble
lords — there stands the object of my choice ; and thus
do I install him in this seat, as lord and master of Dhu
Castle ! "

She turned to the astonished minstrel as she spoke,
and ere her words were ended, the youth was seated at
her side.

A scene of wonder and wild confusion followed — most
of the Barons protested loudly against her choice ; angry
looks and threatening gestures were directed at the
minstrel, and more than one sword was half unsheathed.
O'Connor seemed thunderstruck — and the lady herself
was the most collected of the company.

" How is this, Sir Knights ! " she cried. " Is lordly
word and written pledge so lightly held among you,
that thus ye violate their sanctity ? Thane of Con-
naught," she continued, as she addressed herself to the
" Big Man," — " thy faith was never questioned, and thy
word is held to be sacred as a martyr's vow. When the
English King, under pain of confiscation, ordered thee
* The place of honour in a Baronial Hall.

274 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

to deliver the stranger up, whom thou hadst resetted — •
although five hundred marks were upon his head, what
was thy answer ? ' The lands may go, but plighted
faith must stand ! ' The ink with which you bound
yourself to the conditions of yonder bond is not yet
dry upon the parchment, and wilt thou break thy word ? "

"It is a trick," cried De Moore.

" The selection rests with ourselves alone," exclaimed
Mandeville.

" We will never brook that page or minstrel should
hold the lands and castles of Cormac More," said both
together : and they laid their hands upon their swords ;
the attendants followed the example of their lords, and
a scene of violence and discord was about immediately
to ensue.

O'Connor slowly rose — he waved his hand to command
silence, and his wishes were promptly obeyed.

" This is, indeed, an unexpected choice," he said :
" Sir Prior, read thy parchment aloud, that all may
hear, and read it carefully, line after line, and
syllable by syllable : see that a letter be not omitted."
The Monk obeyed. " The document is a plain one,"
said " The Big Man," " and by it the lady has good
right to choose whom she listeth for her consort. —
Lady of Iveagh," he continued, as he turned to the
blushing widow, " is this youth the husband of thy
choice ? " — " He, and none besides, so help me saints
and angels ! " was the solemn answer. " Then, by
my father's ashes, and a knight's word that never yet was
questioned, thou, Aylmer Mowbray, shalt this night
possess thy bride ! And why, my lords, chafe you so
at this ? " for the storm was again about to burst forth :
"Is it because the monk was but a sorry lawyer, and

THE LEGEND OF ROSE ROCHE. 275

the lady took advantage of a loose parchment, which
should have bound her better ? Is it that the lord of
Dhu Castle was once a page ? What was thy ancestor,
De Moore (I mean not to offend thee), but usher to the
Lord Justice ? And thine, Mandeville, but chamber-
groom to Strongbow ? Aylmer, I love thee too well
to envy thee thy good fortune : — thy lute has won the
lady — thy lance must keep her lands. Kneel down,
minstrel no longer — rise up, my own knight banneret !
And now, Lords of the Pale, Henry himself could not
confer a nobler dignity ; for O'Connor's knight is
standard-bearer to the King of Connaught ! Does
any here gainsay his rank and dignity ? The sword
that conferred the honour is ready and able to maintain
it ! " And O'Connor, as he ended, flung belt and rapier
on the table.

But none seemed disposed to quarrel with him : and
gradually they followed his example, and admitted the
lady's right of choice. The mirth and feasting were
resumed ; and each, after reasoning with himself, finding
that the chances of individual success were greatly
against him, became reconciled to lose the lady and her
lands. Before midnight struck, the Prior performed
the marriage ceremony ; and while O'Connor bestowed
the beauteous bride, De Moore himself attended upon
the fortunate minstrel.

Nor did Sir Aylmer Mowbray disappoint his patron's
expectation. As his lute was sweetest in the bower, his
plume was foremost in the field. He held the posses-
sions he gained by his lady against every claimant ;
sons and daughters blessed his bed, and transmitted
his titles and estates to posterity : and thus, more than
one powerful house traces its lineage back to an " tteve "
of the Ursulines and the black-eyed Page.

276 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE fishing party had been successful, and returned
late in the evening with two baskets of trout, which,
although of small size, were remarkable for beautiful
shape and excellent flavour.

It is a curious fact that the loughs where the party
angled, though situate in the same valley, and divided
only by a strip of moorland not above fifty yards across,
united by the same rivulet, and in depth and soil at
bottom, to all appearance, precisely similar, should
produce fish as different from each other as it is possible
for those of the same species to be. In the centre lake
the trout are dull, ill-shapen, and dark-coloured ; the
head large, the body lank, and, though of double size,
compared to their neighbours, are killed with much
less opposition. In the adjacent loughs, their hue is
golden and pellucid, tinted with spots of a brilliant
vermilion. The scales are bright, the head small,
the shoulder thick, and from their compact shape, they
prove themselves, when hooked, both active and vigorous.
At table they are red and firm, and their flavour is
particularly fine — while the dark trout are white and
flaccid, and have the same insipidity of flavour which
distinguishes a spent from a healthy salmon. The
red trout seldom exceed a herring-size, and in looking
through the contents of the baskets, which amounted
to at least twelve dozen, I could only find two fish which
weighed above a pound.

The dark trout, however, from their superior size,
are more sought after by the mountain fishermen.

DISTILLATION. 277

They rarely are taken of a smaller weight than a pound,
and sometimes have been killed, and particularly with
a worm, or on a night-line, of a size little inferior to that
of a moderate salmon.

The fishing party determined that Antony's account
of the otters being very numerous about those lakes
was perfectly correct. Their paths between the waters
were much beaten, and the spraints of the animal
fresh and frequent.

There is a lake still farther up the mountains, and some
hundred feet above the level of these loughs, which
produces trout not more remarkable for size than for
their peculiarity in never rising at a fly, or taking a bait ;
and yet they are frequently observed by the herdsmen
who frequent the valley where the lake is situated,
rising over the water, or, to use their own phrase,
" tumbling about like dogs." From the known attach-
ment of the lower classes of this country to indulge
in " the wild and wonderful," their size or existence
might be doubtful, were it not that they run like eels
in the latter part of a harvest, and at that season are
taken, after a flood, in the pools of the little river,
which communicates directly with the lake. These
trout have been found to weigh upwards of twelve
pounds, and are said to be in shape and colour like large
gillaroos, and of superior flavour when brought to table.

The otter- killer declares that he fished this lake
repeatedly, and while he exhausted all his piscatory
skill, he never could induce a trout to rise. He recol-
lects, however, hearing " when a boy," that there was
formerly an old man who resided contiguous to the lake,
who caught trout most plentifully near the centre of the
water, by floating lines across it, their ends being attached

278 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

to the legs of geese ; but he admits his belief that this
was but a popular conceit, and wisely comes to a con-
clusion, " that there is a sea-horse, or some such devil
in the lough, which prevents the fish from taking
fly or worm." In the neighbourhood of Minola there
is a lake called Carramore, where the trout are said to
be equally large, and in refusing baits and flies equally
refractory. I have never fished the water, or seen the
trout ; but they are taken during harvest floods, in
a mill-race, which runs directly from the lough ; their
size is from four to ten pounds.

Three days have passed, and the weather has been wet
and boisterous. The moors have become soft, and are
now very distressing to traverse. The grouse have
deserted their customary haunts, are found with
difficulty, and from their wildness, will hardly stand
the dogs. Winter is fast approaching, and the time is
close at hand when the cabin must be abandoned for
the more substantial comforts of the Lodge.

And I shall leave this hut and these hills with sincere
regret. Palled with the pleasures of the world, I found
here that rude, but real happiness, which for years
before I had sought in vain. Here I associated with
a new order of beings. I compared them with the
artificial society I had consorted with, and found among
them some traces of natural virtues, which ultra civili-
zation has banished from the rest of mankind. There
may be here, no doubt, much ignorance and super-
stition to be regretted, and false opinions and falser
modes of action to be corrected — but even for their
vices I can find an apology, and their worst crimes will
appear, upon examination, to be either consequent
upon moral neglect, or arising from rude and barbarous

DISTILLATION. 279

notions of what appears to them nothing but retributive
justice.

The grave offences with which these wild people are
principally charged appear to be abduction and murder ;
and both are of frequent recurrence. The first, indeed,
is so prevalent, that any lady bent upon celibacy had better
avoid Ballycroy, and particularly so if she has obtained
the reputation of being opulent. This crime, however,
is seldom of a dark character, and is generally traceable
to local causes, and the very unceremonious mode
in which parents conclude matches between their chil-
dren without consulting the inclinations of the parties
most concerned in the affair. Probably the whole
matter is arranged between the fathers during an acci-
dental meeting at a fair, or likelier yet, over an egg-sfiell*
drinking-bout in a poteen-house. The due propor-
tions of cattle and dry-money\ which are to be given and
received are regularly specified ; and the youthful
couple who are to be united by the silken bond of
Hymen are first acquainted with their purposed happi-
ness after the priest has been sent for to solemnise the
nuptials. No wonder, therefore, if the lady have
another liaison, that she intimates her feelings to the
fortunate man. He finds no difficulty in enlisting a
sufficient number of his faction to " hoist away " the
intended bride, and carry her to some distant hill or
island. Then a wonderful series of bargain-making
commences : upon the lady's side it being insisted that
the abductor shall forthwith make her " an honest

* It may be easily imagined that glass is a scarce article in Bally-
croy. Accordingly, in the still and drinking houses, an egg-shell
is used as a substitute.

t " Dry money " is synonymous with " hard cash."

280 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

woman : " while the gallant usually demurs to the
" amende honorable" until the " consideration " for
doing the same is propounded and guaranteed. Now
it is that the priest engages deeply in the negotiation.
He assumes the first place in the corps diplomatique,
and becomes prime minister. In the conduct of the
affair, no doubt, himself is interested ; he is anxious
to effect hymeneals, for hence arises his principal revenue,
and matrimony is the best feather in his wing — and,
independent of the nuptial fee, contingent christenings
and increased house-money* are in prospective. But
the lover has it all his own way. A week's residence
in the mountains has perilled the lady's reputation
beyond recovery ; as she has gotten a blast, her matri-
monial market is spoiled, and nothing remains but an
amicable arrangement. Terms are accordingly made —
the parties become one flesh — the priest is considered
for his great and valuable services by " both the houses,"
and " one raal rookawn of a runaway match " is better
to his reverence than thrice the number of weddings
perpetrated by general consent.

This milder class of abduction is, unfortunately, not
the only one ; girls having property, or who are likely
to possess it, are oftentimes forcibly carried off.
Secreted in the mountains, they are not easily recover-
able by their friends, and left at the mercy of the ruffian
and his confederates, they are at last obliged to become
the legal property of the despoiler. As the abductor
is generally some idle, dissipated blackguard, the fate

* The revenues of the Roman Catholic clergy are derived from
certain fees payable for marriages and christenings, with an annual
tax of two shillings upon every house in the parish. These, with
Christmas and Easter offerings, presents, and legacies, amount, in
populous parishes, to a very considerable sum.

DISTILLATION. 281

of the ill-starred being who is united to him under such
circumstances for life is truly lamentable.

The second and worst description of crime, of which
this remote district unhappily affords too many instances,
is murder. Many circumstances tend to encourage it.
The system of clanship, and the imperfect administra-
tion of the laws, are chief causes. A strange infatua-
tion prevents these people from surrendering a culprit ;
and to conceal or abet the escape of a criminal from
punishment is felt to be a sort of moral obligat on
not to be got over. Hence, the feudal system prevails
in Ballycroy of repaying injury by injury ! rather
than submit the offender to the ordinary course of
justice ; violences committed by one faction are fear-
fully returned by the other ; and in a country where
a dent spirits are easily procured, and where ancient
customs and the endless number of holy days enjoined
by the Church of Rome bring the parties into frequent
collision, it is not wonderful that disastrous consequences
ensue. Maddened by whisky, the nationa1 pugnacity
bursts forth, old injuries are remembered, the worst
passions are called into action, and loss of life is too
commonly he result.

That any competent moral remedy can be employed
to check these barbarisms is hopeless, while the present
destructive system of private distillation is encouraged
by the landlord and abetted by the revenue. The
landlord is the chief delinquent — for, owing to abomin-
able jobbing, the monies taken from the public purse,
and intended to open a communication between this
wild country and the more inhabited districts, have been
scandalously malversated, and lavished upon useless
works, merely to reward favouritism, or benefit agents

282 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

and dependents. No serviceable attempts have been made
to facilitate the transport of grain from the mountains
to those towns from whence it could be sent abroad ;
and hence, the only markets which could be legitimately
and beneficially resorted to by the peasantry are, from
want of means of egress from the highlands, embargoed
to these hapless people. Left to their own resources,
what can this wretched population do ? At the mercy
of hireling drivers and cold-hearted agents, they are
required on a given day to produce the rent — honestly
if they can — but to produce it. To convey their miser-
able grain crop to a distant market would greatly abate
the amount of the sale, by the expense and difficulty
attendant upon the carriage. An easier mode of dis-
posing of it is presented. The still is substituted for
the market ; and hence, three parts of the corn grown
in these bogs and hills are converted into whisky.

At first sight, the advantages of private distillation
appear immense. The grain will realise nearly three
times the price that it would have produced if sold for
exportation ; but when the demoralisation, and waste,
and ulterior risk are considered, the imaginary profits
are far overbalanced by the certain or contingent losses
which attend it.

From the moment that the grain is first wetted to the
time the spirit has been doubled, the ordinary habits of
the peasant are interrupted. Night and day he must
be on the alert — and if there were no greater penalty
beyond the unbidden visits of every idle blackguard
who drops in to taste the " barley bree," it would be
a sufficient punishment for the offence. But this is the
smallest tax upon the produce of the still ; when the
process is complete, much of the produce is expended

DISTILLATION. 283

in drunken hospitality. If, after all these drawbacks,
the residue be disposed of in the town, or sold to some
itinerant whisky-dealer, the adventure is prosperous ;
but the chances of detection, seizure, fine and imprison-
ment are so multitudinous as to render the vending
of this pernicious article a ruinous trade. To succeed
encourages him to continue in this hazardous manu-
facture ; and then upon him who night and day parches
in a still-house, certain drunkenness is entailed, with
sooner or later a loss of property, from the casualties
incident to the adventure ; and hence, more people
have been beggared by this demoralising traffic than all
the misfortunes which bad seasons, bad crops, and worse
still, bad landlords could accomplish.

Difficult as the task is found of conveying grain
from the highlands, the denizens of the coast possess
little advantage from their own locality. Want of
harbours renders the voyage hazardous, and the arrival
of the grain at market an uncertainty ; and many a
peasant, from rough seas and contrary winds, has been
ruined. One instance of this was mentioned, and
it so forcibly exemplifies the misfortune, that I shall
transcribe it.

A person of comfortable means, having suffered
severe loss from private distillation, determined that he
would never " wet a grain during his natural life." He
shipped his corn accordingly in a hooker for Westport,
it being the nearest place where a purchaser could be
found. Bad weather and contrary winds came on, and
during eight days, for so much time was occupied in the
passage, the grain was exposed to rain and spray eter-
nally, and when it reached its destination, was found
to be so much damaged as to be rendered unfit for sale.

284 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

The unlucky owner was eventually obliged to bring it
back, and in self-defence to malt and distil it. The
process was completed, and the spirits safely brought
to the town of Castlebar. There it was seized by the
revenue, the proprietor imprisoned for four months,
and his cattle and furniture at home canted to pay that
rent, which the corn, had it been marketable, would
have more than realized. By this accumulation of
misfortune, the unhappy man was reduced to the greatest
misery, and from having been once an opulent land-
holder, he is at this moment a cottier upon what was
formerly his farm, with nothing to support a wife and
seven children but a limited potato-garden, and occa-
sionally sixpence a day, when he is lucky enough to obtain
employment at that price.

LAST DAY'S SHOOTING. 285

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE day for our departure is fixed, and the order
for breaking up our bivouac has issued ; we leave the
cabin to-morrow, and some of us, in course of mortal
changes and chances are never fated to visit it again,
and, " breast the keen air " of these extensive moun-
tains. We have all devoted this, our last day, to
separate pursuits. I, with my kinsman, take to the
hills, while the Colonel and the Priest descend the river,
thus embracing sports by " fell and flood." Old
Antony, encouraged by the report of the fishing party
has hobbled off at day-break with his trap and
terrier, determined, as he expressed it, " to try his
fortune once more before he died." A shepherd-
boy accompanied him, and when the distance and diffi-
culty of the ground is considered, the old man's courage
is surprising, and nothing but that master-passion
which through a long life has been remarkable could
nerve the otter-killer to the enterprise.

Our last day's sport, during its forenoon, was most
unpromising. The birds were scarce, unsettled, and
" wild as hawks." From the extreme steadiness of the
dogs, we sometimes succeeded in surprising them ;
but generally, the cock took alarm, and gave the signal
for escape > and the brood got off with a random shot
or two. At last, when almost weary of following birds
who appeared determined not to stand a point, accident
did for us what neither art nor local experience could
achieve.

On a narrow strip of heather, which fringed the banks
of a little rivulet, one of our youngest and wildest setters

286 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

stopped in his career as if he had been shot. The
suddenness of his check, and the steady point he stood
at, intimated that the birds were immediately beside
him ; and while my cousin, who happened to be at a
little distance, hurried up, Hennessey observed a splendid
pack of fifteen birds stealing off across the bare bog. It
was a brood of very unusual number to meet with at this
advanced season, when the strongest packs have generally
been reduced by gun or vermin. The moor that
adjoined the banks on which the grouse were found
was a barren, soft surface, without either heath or broken
ground to cover our approach ; and when we attempted
to close up, the cock took wing, and the pack rose
instantly and crossed the flats, continuing their flight
over a small hill, until we lost them altogether.

We were very doubtful whether we should follow
them, as the hill was particularly steep and barren,
and the ground beyond it, to judge from appearances,
as bare as the exposed moorlands the birds had quitted.
At this moment of indecision, Hennessey recollected
that there was a little valley beneath the brow where
the grouse had left our view ; but my kinsman, often
as he had been on these hills, had never before been
aware of its situation. Hennessey's information
determined us to proceed ; we accordingly clambered
up the ascent, and when we reached the brow of the
height, discovered immediately below one of the
sweetest glens I ever looked at, stretching between the
basis of the hill we occupied and the higher ridge beyond
it. It was an admirable retreat for grouse — several
rivulets trickled through the hollow, and everywhere
it was covered with thick, tall heath, in rich blossom,
and the cranberries, of which these birds are particu-

LAST DAY'S SHOOTING. 287

larly fond, were growing all around in great abundance.
Delighted with our new discovery, we determined to
investigate this land of promise closely, and our expec-
tations, though excited by the appearance of this
beautiful glen, were amply realised. We found the pack
that escaped us in the low grounds, and they paid dearly
for the long walk they had given us in the pursuit. The
valley produced two other broods ; and soon, after some
hours of capital shooting, we found our game bags,
when we left the glen, increased by twenty-three of the
finest birds I ever saw. We might have thinned the
packs still more, but my kinsman was anxious to leave
this secret valley with a sufficient stock, to render it
a sure resource when grouse could not be otherwise
obtained. This was indeed a good wind-up to our
highland-shooting : and as we sprang several scattered
birds during our return, we decided that this was our
best day throughout the season, and worthy of the
brightest page of the game-book, in which all our failures
and successes were duly and faithfully chronicled
since we took to the hills.

A curious incident supplied us with an excellent
white fish. The servant who brought the post-bag,
when in the act of crossing the river, which, in his
route from the Lodge, he was obliged to do repeatedly,
most unexpectedly encountered a large otter carrying
off a salmon he had just seized. The postman attacked
the poacher vigorously, who, dropping his prey, glided
off into the deep water at the tail of the ford. The
spoil proved to be a fresh salmon not twenty hours from
the sea, and consequently in prime condition. The
otter showed himself the best artist of the day ; for while
the Colonel and his companion returned with empty

288 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

baskets, the little animal managed to secure the finest
and freshest salmon in the river.

To give falat to our parting feast, a red-deer haunch
had been reserved, and in its roasting, John, as poor
Napoleon would say, " covered himself with glory."
Dinner passed as such a dinner should pass. The Colonel
and the Priest appeared bent upon conviviality. We
too prepared for a jovial carouse ; and it was generally
determined that our parting banquet should be the
" merriest, as the last."

Evening passed quickly — there was no moon visible
till after midnight, and the wind, which had hitherto
been unheard, began to make that mournful noise
around the cabin, which generally indicates an approach-
ing change of weather. The otter-killer's absence
was now, for the first time, remarked, and I observed
that my kinsman rose frequently from the table, to look
long and anxiously from the window. Another hour
passed, and our alarm was fearfully increased, for,
aware of the feebleness of the old man, we apprehended
that he would be unable to make good his journey ;
and, if benighted in the moors, the probability was
great that he would perish of cold before the morning.

While we remained in painful suspense, each feeling
an unwillingness to interrupt the comfort of the evening
by expressing fears that haply might only be imaginary,
a squall rushed up the river, and showed us that the
wind had chopped round to the westward several points
since twilight. At that moment a commotion was heard
outside — the pipes ceased — loud and earnest whisper-
ings succeeded — the door opened, and John, with a pale
face and hurried voice, told us that the otter-killer
was missing, and the boy who had accompanied him in

LAST DAY'S SHOOTING. 289

the morning to the lakes, had now returned without
being able to give any tidings of old Antony, from whom
it appeared that he had separated several hours before.
" Get lights instantly," exclaimed my cousin.
" Away, all of you ! disperse right and left across the
bogs. Come Frank, on with the brogues. I fear our
poor otter-killer is but ' a lost priest.' No, Colonel,
your services would be useless — " for the commander,
forgetting gout and rheumatism, and alive only to the
danger of his ancient associate, had prepared to accom-
pany the party.

In a few minutes every effective member of our
body-politic was in motion. The scene was uncommon
and picturesque. It being pitch dark as the respective
parties dispersed across the moor upon their different
routes to the mountain lakes, the stream of torch-light
falling upon the figures, as they were revealed and hidden
by the inequalities of the ground they traversed, was
really imposing. Their wild shouts died gradually
as the distance increased ; and presently nothing was
heard by our party but the rushing of the stream and the
moaning of the blast.

Obedient to Hennessey's advice, we followed the river
path, as the likeliest one which the otter-killer would
select in his unfortunate attempt to return to the cabin.
On either side of the moorland the peasants were
extended, and occasionally we caught a glimpse of their
fading lights, as they glanced and disappeared among
the hillocks. Our own path was so rough and difficult
that the torch could not secure us from many and severe
falls ; and from the extreme darkness of the night, it
was too evident that Antony could never make good
his way. We almost despaired of being enabled to

V

2QO WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

render assistance to the unfortunate object of our
search.

Suddenly, Hennessey, who led the party, halted.
" By heaven ! " he exclaimed, " I heard either a fox's
whimper, or the cry of a dog."

He put his finger to his lips and whistled shrilly,
and instantly a long-sustained howl answered to the
signal.

" It is Venney's cry," said our leader. " God grant
that her master be still alive ! "

We pushed forward rapidly for several hundred yards
in the direction the noise was heard from ; and the
whining of a dog, broken now and then by a long and
piercing howl, continued to guide us. We reached the
place, and on turning a rock which elbowed into the
river abruptly, found the old man extended on the
ground, cold and motionless. The trap was bound
across his back, and a large otter lay at some yards
distance from the place where he had fallen.

We raised him up, while the faithful terrier frisked
about us, and testified sincere delight at the promised
recovery of her master. The old man's eyes feebly
opened when the torch-light flashed upon his face.
This symptom of existing life encouraged us, and, as
his extremities were cold and powerless, his master and
I rubbed them briskly between our hands, while
Hennessey poured some brandy down his throat.

" We want instant help," said my cousin ; " jump
upon the bank, and see if anybody is near us."

His foster brother rushed up the brow, and whistled
loudly, but the signal was unheard or unheeded. Again
he exerted himself, but ineffectually, to make the flanking
parties hear him : there was no reply.

LAST DAY'S SHOOTING. 2QI

" This may be heard," he muttered, and, drawing
a pistol from his breast, the loud report was answered
by a distant halloo. Next moment lights appeared,
and our shouts and whistles directed the torch-bearers
to the place.

We disencumbered the dying man of his iron trap,
and our attempts to restore suspended animation appeared
to be partially successful. But the Priest, who led the
party coming to our relief, gave us still better hopes,
by ascertaining that the old man's pulse was beating.

From the assistance we received, the unfortunate
otter-killer was transported quickly to the cabin. A
bed was already heated, and John had abundance of
warm water to bathe his chilled limbs. Our unabated
efforts were crowned with ultimate success ; for before
midnight, he had recovered his speech, and was enabled,
though with some difficulty, to give us the particulars
of his unlucky excursion.

He reached, it appeared, the loughs soon after day-
light, and discovered the numerous footmarks which
the fishing-party had already observed. One trace he
particularly followed, and, from the spraint, concluded
the animal would cross the path again before evening ;
and, after setting his trap, Antony retired to a distance,
whence, himself unseen, he could watch the event.

At twilight, as the old man had conjectured, the
otter, on his return, crossed the path, and was secured,
and the hunter, and his terrier made good the capture.
Proud of his success, which, to the old man seemed
a proof that his energies were not yet gone, he foolishly
endeavoured to carry this trophy of his skill along with
him, instead of leaving it with his trap, for some gossoon
to bring in the morning to the cabin. He turned his

2Q2 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

steps homeward ; but the trap and the otter, with the
soft and harassing ground he had to traverse, speedily
exhausted his feeble strength ; the light faded away,
the wind rose, and before he crossed the swamp, and
gained the firm but rugged path beside the river, the
darkness rendered it almost impossible for even a young
person to have proceeded safely. After feeble and
slow efforts to get forward, he stumbled over a stone,
his energies were totally exhausted by fatigue, and he
was unable to rise again.

His faithful dog couched herself beside her fallen
master, and the last sounds that the despairing otter-
killer heard were the long and mournful howls with
which Venom mourned over his calamity.

THE " JANE " RUNS A CARGO. 293

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE illness of the old otter-killer has clouded our
moorland excursions at their close, and we leave with
melancholy forebodings our mountain bivouac. Antony,
at his own request, was carried to the Lodge to-day ;
and when the difficulty of the ground and the frequent
crossing of the river is considered, it was an arduous
undertaking. The camp-followers arranged a rude
litter ; and as works of mercy are highly estimated by
pious Catholics, there were more volunteers to assist in
transporting the dying man than could well find employ-
ment.

During our progress down, we had some hours'
superior sport with the eagle. Pullgarrow, that inimit-
able hole, has more than realised what the Colonel and
our kinsman have said and sung in its commendation.
In Christendom it could not be surpassed, and of this
best of pools may be said that " none but itself can be
its parallel."

In the minor streams we killed more red trout this
morning than we do generally. Indeed, from the
character of this river, I have been puzzled to account
for the evident scarcity of this species in a water that
appears so especially adapted for them. The clearness
of the stream, the gravelly soil it flows over, its pools
and rapids, all seem calculated to produce red trout
plentifully. But they are not numerous ; and as the
flies we invariably use are formed for the other species,
it is not surprising that we find but few red trout in the
baskets.

With this day's fishing our river sports terminate.

294 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

Rods and lines, and all the materiel of the craft, will now
be laid in ordinary, and till spring comes round again,
other sports must occupy the idle hours. I have learned
more — although I acknowledge, with all humility, my
un worthiness as an angler — by a few day's practical
experience, than I could have almost considered possible ;
and I have ascertained how inadequate theory is to
instruct a neophyte in the art. In angling, however,
like other manly exercises, men are constituted by
nature to succeed or fail. We know that there are per-
sons who, though born in a preserve, could never shoot
even tolerably, while others, with less advantages,
speedily become adepts. One man can never learn to
ride ; and another, in a short time, can cross the country
like " a winged Mercury." The same rule holds good
in angling ; — A. in a short period becomes perfect
master of the arcana of the gentle science ; while B. will
thresh a river to eternity, dismissing flies, breaking
tops, losing foot-links, and perpetrating every enormity
with which a tyro is chargeable.

Yet to a man naturally handy y and observant, little
is required to acquire the art, but a good stream and
tolerable attention. He will soon gain more practical
information and mechanical science than any book can
inculcate. And it will be only when, by practice, he
has acquired a knowledge of the science, that he will
be able to comprehend what written theories profess
to teach.

We had scarcely left the river, when a man, who stood
upon an eminence that commanded an extensive view
seaward, gesticulated with great energy, and made,
what appeared to me, some momentous communication
in the mother tongue.

THE " JANE " RUNS A CARGO. 295

" It is the Jane \ " exclaimed my kinsman, as he
bounded up the bank to gain the summit of the hillock.
I did not comprehend exactly what the affair was which
created such powerful emotions among my companions ;
but when I reached the height, a scene of extreme
interest was presented.

Between the Black Rock and the island of Devilawn,
a cutter was opening the bay, and standing from the
westward under a press of canvas. She carried a spank-
ing breeze in, and, as her course was two points off the
wind, her sails drew, and she came up " hand over hand."
The approach was evidently expected, for from every
nook and inlet rowboats were being launched — the whole
population poured forth from the mountain villages —
and the coast, as far as the eye could reach, was
in marvellous commotion. Nothing could be more
beautiful and picturesque than the appearance of the
smuggler. The sunshine fell upon her snowy canvas,
a private signal fluttered from the mast-head, and a
union-jack was flying at the peak, while, occasionally,
a sheet of broken foam sparkled round her bows, as she
held her onward course gallantly,

"And walked the water like a thing of life."

In a few minutes after her having been first discovered,
boats were pulling from the shore in all directions, while
the cutter closed the land fast. When abreast the
Ridge Point, she suddenly rounded-to, handed her
gaff top-sail, hauled up the main-tack, and waited for
the boats.

" I cannot go on board," said my kinsman, with a
heavy sigh, " being, alas ! like Master Robert Shallow,
' a poor esquire of this county, and one of the King's

296 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

Justices of the Peace ; ' but though I shall not pay my
personal respects, yet will not my old friend Jack
Matthews forget me ; but you shall board the Jane,
and witness a bustling business. I'll promise you a
hearty welcome from the skipper — and see, you are just
in time, for the gig is on the water."

As he spoke, he hailed the boat, which, returning
to the beach, took me on board, and then pulled off for
the vessel, which, in a quarter of an hour, we reached.

It was, indeed, a bustling scene ; a hundred boats
were collected round the smuggler, who, to use nautical
parlance, had already " broken bulk," and was dis-
charging the cargo with a rapidity, and yet orderly and
business-like system, that was surprising.

I was immediately recognised by Captain Matthews,
and politely invited to his cabin. Aware of the hurry
consequent upon this dangerous traffic, on the plea of
his presence being requisite upon deck, I would have
declined the honour ; but the gallant Captain remarked,
with great indifference, " that he left the delivery of
his cargo to the agents and purchasers, and could not
spend an hour or two more to his satisfaction, than
in entertaining, in his own way, the kinsman of his
respected friend." And, calling for the steward, he
stepped forward to order some refreshments.

While he was thus engaged, I had ample time to
satisfy my curiosity, and observe the conduct of this
illicit traffic. There appeared no confusion attendant
on the delivery of the tobacco to its respective pro-
prietors, who had already engaged certain proportions
of the cargo, which they received upon the production of
small tickets, specifying the quantity and description of
the goods ; the business having been previously arranged

THE " JANE " RUNS A CARGO. 2Q7

on shore, before the arrival of the smuggler, facilitated
the dangerous trade.

When I found myself in the cabin with the bold outlaw
— for Matthews had been legally denounced for many
daring and successful contests with the Revenue —
I could not but admire the thorough indifference to
possible consequences which this singular personage
exhibited. He knew that several men-of-war were at
that moment cruising on the station, and that they had
been apprised he had sailed from Flushing, and that
this coast was the spot selected by the owners to effect
the unding — yet he laughed and drank as gaily as I
should in a club-house, and despatched the messages
which were occasionally brought down with perfect
nonchalance. He spoke principally of his own exploits ;
and the scene was admirably in keeping. Around the
cabin, muskets, pistols, and blunderbusses were secured
in arm-racks, and cutlasses and tomahawks were sus-
pended from the bulkheads. His had been a wild career ;
and though not past the middle-age, his life teemed
with " perilous adventure." I was so much amused
with his varied narratives of brave attempts and desperate
successes, that the second hour slipped away before I
rose and took my departure. On regaining the deck,
the hurry of the business was over. The contraband
cargo had been replaced by stone ballast ; for, by previous
arrangement, each boat brought a quantity of shingle
from the beach, and hence the smuggler was already in
trim, and ready to stand out to sea.

This notorious vessel was considered in size and
sailing superior to any of a similar class, and her voyages
had been numerous and successful. Her armament
was formidable ; sixteen heavy carronades were extended

298 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

along the deck, with two long, brass guns of smaller
calibre, and every other appurtenance of war was in
perfect efficiency. But the most striking object was her
ferocious-looking, but magnificent crew ; they seemed
only formed for " the battle and the breeze ; " and well
justified their commander's boast, " that he could
thrash any cruiser of his own size, and land his cargo
in six hours afterwards."

We left the vessel — and, to judge by the kegs and cases
stowed away in the gig, my cousin had not been for-
gotten in the general distribution. The outlaw stood
upon a carronade, and waved his hand as we pulled from
the ship's side ; and in a short time set his head-sails,
and stood off to sea with the ebb-tide and a spanking
breeze, which carried him out of sight directly.

This was fated to be the last landing of the Jane, and
the last exploit of her commander ; she foundered on
her next voyage, and every person on board perished
with the vessel.*

We had nearly reached the bar, when we observed a
large sailing-boat strike on the tail of Carrig-a-boddagh,
and as the tide was falling fast, she was in momentary
danger of falling over. Every exertion of the crew to get
her off was ineffectual ; and on our nearer approach
they evinced such unequivocal symptoms of inebriety
as accounted for the disaster. A solitary passenger was
on board, who appeared in desperate alarm ; and, at
his own earnest solicitation, we received him and his
personal effects, which were extremely limited, into
our boat. The crew remained with the hooker, which
they calculated upon floating off the following tide.

*The Jane went down in a tremendous gale off the north-west
coast of Ireland. Her consort, The Blue-eyed Maid, witnessed the
melancholy event, without being able to render any assistance.

THE " JANE " RUNS A CARGO. 299

I was much struck with the appearance of the stranger.
His voice and bearing told that he was not indigenous
to the soil : low in stature, delicate in form, with a timid
and suspicious bearing, I was greatly puzzled to account
for his being a passenger in a Connemara fishing-boat.
Although nervous as a woman before we reached the pier,
I had tranquillized him so far as to find out generally that
he had left the Galway coast, in the expectation of being
landed on the shores of Sligo ; but that the crew, having
boarded the smuggler, managed to get gloriously drunk,
and, diverging totally from their course, ran the hooker
on a reef, from which they should have been several
leagues distant.

The stranger was an Englishman. He met from my
kinsman a hospitable reception — and the Colonel and
I united our attentions, and in a great degree restored
his confidence. Nothing, however, could persuade him
that the hooker had not been run designedly upon the
rock, and that he and his travelling-bag would have been
victimized by what he termed " desperate pirates,"
but for our seasonable rescue. My cousin smiled.
" The conduct of the drunken scoundrels," he said,
" was unpardonable ; but he doubted whether they
harboured those nefarious designs. Strangers were
frequently led away by appearances, and it was no
uncommon thing for travellers to suffer unnecessary
alarm from groundless causes." And he related an
anecdote of a gentleman being put in fear and terror, in
a neighbouring county, by mistaking a fish for a
weapon.

" Soon after the rebellion of Ninety-eight, an English
merchant was necessitated, by urgent business, to
visit the kingdom of Connaught. Having provided

300 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

himself with a servant, who professed an acquaintance
with the language of the country, he made his will, and
took a place in the Westport Mail. He reached the

post-town of in safety, and from it proceeded to

cross that wild and picturesque mountain-chain which
bounds the beautiful shores of Lough Corrib.

" It was late in autumn : the weather had been wet,
and, owing to the difficulty of the bridle-roads, the
traveller was benighted some miles' distance from the
house that he had calculated upon reaching. Unable
to proceed farther, he reluctantly took up his quarters
at a shebeine-house. It was but a sorry caravansera —
but nothing could surpass the apparent kindness of the
family. Supper was prepared ; the best bed was sheeted,
and when the belated stranger had sufficiently refreshed
himself, he was conducted to an inner room, where,
at his own request, the servant was also accommodated
with a pallet.

" Yet, notwithstanding the marked civility of the
family, the stranger could not overcome a secret appre-
hension of impending danger. It was a wild place —
a wilder family ; he feared that treachery lurked under-
neath this studied kindness ; and, as he tossed upon
his restless bed, he listened with painful anxiety to every
sound. Midnight came ; the outer door was opened
cautiously — several men entered the kitchen with
stealthy pace — they conversed in their native language,
his name was mentioned, and himself was, beyond doubt,
the subject of this nocturnal conversazione. Crawling
in an agony of apprehension to the pallet where his
attendant lay, he awoke the sleeper, intimated his
suspicions in a whisper, and desired him to report
faithfully the midnight colloquy in the outer chamber.

THE " JANE " RUNS A CARGO. 3OI

" ' What's that they say ? ' quoth the traveller.

' They want another pint, for they have not had
such a prize for the last twelvemonth.'
' That's me ! ' groaned the querist.
' They have five pikes already, and expect more
before morning,' continued the valet.
' Truculent scoundrels ! '
' The largest is intended for yourself ! '

" ' Lord defend me ! ' ejaculated the stranger.
' They wonder if you are sleeping.'

" ' Cold-blooded monsters ; they want to despatch
us quietly.'

" ' The owner swears that nobody shall enter this
room till morning.'

" ' Ay, then they will have daylight, and no diffi-
culty.'

" ' And now, he urges them to go to bed.'

" ' Heaven grant they may ! for then, escape from
this den of murder might be possible.'

" Listening with a beating heart until unequivocal
symptoms of deep sleep were heard from the kitchen,
the unhappy Englishman, leaving his effects to fortune,
crawled through the window half-dressed, and, with a
world of trouble and perilous adventure, managed early
next morning to reach his original place of destination.

" Never, however, was man more mortified than he,
when he related his fearful story. His tale was fre-
quently interrupted by a laugh, which politesse vainly
endeavoured to control.

" ' Zounds ! ' cried the irritated Englishman, no
longer able to conceal his rage, ' is my throat so valueless
that its cutting should merely raise a horse-laugh ? '

" ' My dear friend,' replied the host, ' you must excuse
me — it is so funny, I cannot, for the life of me, be serious.

302 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

The cause of all your fears lies quietly in the outer hall.
Come, you shall judge upon what good grounds you
absconded through a window, and skirmished half the
night over hill and dale, with but the nether portion of
your habiliments.'

" As he spoke he uncovered a large basket, and pointed
to a huge pike of some thirty pounds weight, which was
coiled around the bottom.

" ' The stormy weather,' continued the host, ' having
interrupted our supply of sea-fish, the peasants who
alarmed you had been setting night lines for your
especial benefit. The petka more* which you heard
devoted to your services in the shebeine-house, was not
an instrument of destruction, but, as you shall admit at
six o'clock, as good a white fish as ever true Catholics,
like you and I, were doomed wherewithal to mortify the
flesh upon a blessed Friday.' "

The stranger smiled.

" I may have wronged my late companions," he said,
" but I have of late been under such constant and
painful excitement, that I often wonder that reason held
her seat. I have this evening not only been delivered
from considerable danger, but I have fallen most
unexpectedly upon persons and a place which, on this
remote coast, and among these wild hills, appear
miraculous. Your accents are different from those
I have lately listened to : and could I but find courage
to tell my story, you would own that I have lately under-
gone sufficient trials to unnerve a stouter frame than this
feeble one of mine."

After some time, the stranger felt the cheering effect
of my kinsman's claret, and in a strain which might be
termed serio-comic, he thus narrated his story.
* The large pike.

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 303

MEMOIR OF A GENTLEMAN WHO WOULD NOT DO FOR
GALWAY

" I am descended from a line of traders, and by birth
as genuine a cockney as ever listened to Bow-bells.
My mother's nonage was passed in St. Mary Axe,
and my father was a dry-salter in Tooley Street. He was
third of the same name that there had dwelt and prospered.
They were a thrifty and punctilious race ; and it was a
family boast that, for seventy years, a bill bearing the
acceptance of Daniel Dawkins had never been in the
hands of the notary. There is virtue in a good name,
'tis said, and theirs was current for ten thousand.

" I was an only child, and from the cradle evinced an
indolent and dreamy temperament, which was ill adapted
to withstand the worry of trade, and all the annoyances
entailed on traffic. I hated trouble ; hardly knew the
difference between pearl-ashes and pearl-barley ; could
never comprehend tare-and-trett, and had, moreover,
literary propensities. How one in whose veins the blood
of the Dawkinses circulated could be so deplorably
uncommercial, is a puzzle ; but I was, I suppose, ' fore-
doomed my father's soul to cross,' and an unhappy
tutor ruined me beyond recovery.

" My Gamaliel was a Scotch gentleman of unblemished
lineage, remarkable for soiled linen and classical research,
who had emigrated from a highland valley with an
unpronounceable name, to hold a secondary situation
in a city academy, where the progeny of Love Lane
and Little Britain received the rudiments of polite letters
The extra hours of the gifted Celt were, for the considera-
tion of ten pounds annual fee, ' to be paid quarterly,

304 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

and in advance,' devoted to my accomplishments.
Never had man more profound contempt for trade and
traders than he at whose feet I was indoctrinated. He
turned his nose up at the wealthiest grocer in the ward ;
and was barely civil to a tobacconist who had a villa at
Pentonville, and was, moreover, first favourite for an
aldermanic gown. Such delinquency could not be over-
looked, and for his heretical opinions touching commerce
he was eventually ejected from Tooley Street But,
alas ! the mischief was done — the seed was already-
sown — and, as after-experience proved, none of it had
fallen upon the way-side.

" ' In brevity I shall emulate the noble Roman,' quoth
Jack Falstaff ; and so shall I, so far as the autobiography
of my youth is concerned. I abominated business — was an
admirer of the Corsair and Lallan Rookh — was generally
given to inflammatory poetry — wrote fugitive pieces,
and vainly endeavoured to get them a corner in the
periodicals — quarrelled with my parents — was supported
in my rebellion by a romantic aunt — and when my
disinheritance was actually in legal train, was saved
by my parents quitting this world of care, which they
did within one short month, by the agency of a typhus
fever and two physicians.

" Thus was I thrown upon the world at two-and-
twenty, with thirty thousand pounds. Need I say
that I abjured business instanter, and that the honoured
name of Dawkins disappeared from the list of dry-
salters ? For some years, none led a more peaceful
and literary life ; and though this may appear a solecism,
nevertheless it is positively true. The rejection of
my early fugitives had chilled the metrical outbreakings
of my imagination. I had almost Cowper's sensibility

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 305

— the lethalis arundo, as my Scotch tutor would term
it, was deep within my bosom — I swore I would never
lucubrate again ; never again perpetuate a stanza ;
and, like Mr. Daniel O'Connell's, I presume, that my
vow was duly registered in heaven.

" This sunny portion of my life was, alas ! but tran-
sitory. Mine, sir, is a tragic tale. I date the origin of my
misfortunes on board a Margate steamer, and this melan-
choly epoch I shudder to recall. Was there no tutelary
sprite, no suspicious spinster, to whisper a cautionary
advice ? No ; without a single fear I embarked in the
Nereid steamer ; and, as the papers stated, ' left the
Tower stairs with a select party, and a band of music,

on Friday, the of June, 182 — .'

" I must here observe, that my blue-stocking aunt,
who had actually come out in Leadenhall Street with
one small and admired volume, called ' Pedrilla, a Tale
of Passion,' had been latterly urgent with me to enter
into matrimony. ' Something told her,' she would
say, ' that the name of Dawkins was not doomed to be
forgotten, like that of Wood, and Birch, and Bagster.
Men of tarts and turpentine might perish, while —
could I but procure a talented companion ; could I
but unite myself to a congenial soul, God knows what the
result would prove ! — a gifted progeny might honour
me with their paternity ; little Popes and diminutive
Landons would thus be given to the world, fated to be
glorious in their maturity, and lisping in numbers from
their very cots.'

" The company on board the Nereid were generally
known to me. They were exclusively Eastern ; and there
were beauties from the Minories, and nice men from
Bishopsgate Within and Without. 1 was no swain,
and as Anti-gallican in my dancing as Bob Acres. The

306 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

old women admitted that, though a good catch, 1 had
no spirit ; the young ones ' admired the money, but
disliked the man ; ' and, as I did not form one of the
coryphtes, who were quadrilling upon the quarter-deck,
I was likely enough to be left to meditative solitude.

" But there was another person who appeared to hold
no communion with the company One lady seemed
a stranger to the rest. Accident placed me beside her, and
thus she became more intimately my compagnon de voyage.

" She was certainly a fine-looking woman ; her face
was comely, but somewhat coarse ; her hair and brows
black as the raven's plumage, her nose rather too marked
for a woman's— but then her waist and legs were unex-
ceptionable. She evidently possessed a sufficiency of
self-command ; no mauvaise honte, no feminine timidity
oppressed her. She looked bravely around, as if she
would assert a superiority ; and accepted my civilities
graciously, it is true, but with the air and dignity of
a duchess. She was, from the start, no favourite with
the company, and there was no inclination evinced by
any of her own sex to make approaches to familiarity.
The cockney beaus looked upon her as a fine but formid-
able animal ; and to me, unworthy as I was, the honour
of being cavalier serviente, was conceded without a
contest. Indeed, at dinner, my fair friend proved
herself too edged a tool for civic wit to touch upon.
When, with ultra-elegance, an auctioneer, whose assur-
ance was undeniable, pressed ' the Hirish lady to teeste
a roast fole,' she obliterated the accomplished appraiser,
by brusquely replying, ' that no earthly consideration
could induce her to eat horse-flesh ! '

" And yet to this woman I was irresistibly attracted.
I sate beside her on the deck, and I ministered to her
coffee-cup ; and when the Nereid disembarked her

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 307

crowd, and a stout, red -whiskered, do-no-good looking
gentleman presented himself upon the chain-pier, and
claimed his ' gentle cousin,' a pang of agony shot across
my breast, and for the first time I felt the curse of
jealousy. And yet, God knows, she was not the person
from whom ' little Popes ' might be expected ; her
tender pledges would be better qualified for rangers
and riflemen than denizens of the world of letters.
But naarriafe is decreed elsewhere, and mine had been
already booked.

' What's in a name ? ' observed somebody. I
assert — everything. Will anybody deny that ' Drusilla
O'Shaughnessey ' was not sufficient to alarm any but
a Shannonite ? Such was the appellative of the lady,
while her honoured kinsman favoured me with an
embossed card, on which was fairly engraven, ' Mr.
Marc Antony Burke Bodkin, Ballybroney House.'

" On minor matters I will not dilate. It appeared
that Miss Drusilla O'Shaughnessey had come to London
in hopeless search after a legacy she expected in right
of her great-uncle, Field-Marshal O'Toole ; that the
Field-Marshal's effects were undiscoverable ; and no
available assets could be traced beyond certain old
swords and battered snuff-boxes ; and consequently,
Drusilla, who had been an heiress in expectancy, was
sadly chagrined. Furthermore, it appeared that Mr.
Marc Antony Bodkin formed her escort from Connemara,
and, being a ' loose gentleman/* and a loving cousin,
he bore her company.'

* No attempt is made here to insinuate »ught against the morality
of Miss O'Shanghnessey's protector. " A loose gentleman," in the
common p»rl*ncc of the kingdom of Connaught, meaneth simply a
gentleman who has nothing to do, and nineteen out of twenty of the
aristocracy of that truly independent country may be thus honour-
ably classed. — ED.

308 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

" If ever the course of love ran smooth, which J
sincerely disbelieve, mine was not the one. I shall not
attempt a description of the progress of my affaire du
coeur ; for I suspect that 1 was the wooed one, and that
Drusilla had marked me for her own, and Marc Antony
aided and abetted. He, good, easy gentleman, was
formed for Cupid's embassies. He ' could interpret
between you and your love,' as Hamlet says ; and to
one with my sensibilities, his services were worth a
Jew's eye. If woman ever possessed the cardinal
virtues united, that person was Drusilla. She was what
Marc called ' the soul of honour ; ' yet she had her
weak points, and he hinted darkly that myself had found
favour in her sight. As a thing of course, I muttered
a handsome acknowledgment ; a rejoinder was promptly
returned, per same conveyance, as my father would
have said — and before six days I was made the happiest
of men, and levanted to Gretna with the lady of my
love, and formally attended by that fidus Achates,
Marc Antony Bodkin.

" What a whirligig world this is ! I recollect well
the evening before the indissoluble knot was tied, when
I strolled into the little garden at Newark. My thoughts
were * big with future bliss,1 and my path of life, as 1
opined, strewed knee-deep with roses of perennial
blossom. I heard voices in the summer-house, — these
were my loved one's and her relatives. To use his
own parlance, the latter, in the joy of his heart, had taken
a sufficiency of wine ' to smother a priest ; ' and as the
conversation was interesting to the parties, and mine
was not the stride of a warrior, my approach was not
discovered by either. The conclave, however, had
terminated, and though but the parting observation

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 309

reached me, it is too faithfully chronicled on my memory
to be forgotten — ' The devil is an ommadawny no doubt ;
but he has money galore, and we'll make him do in
Galway ! ' As he spoke they rose, and passed into the
house without observing me.

" What the observation of Marc Antony meant
I could not for the life of me comprehend. Part of it
was spoken, too, in an unknown tongue. Was 1 the
devil ? and what was an ommadawn ? Dark doubts
crossed my mind ; but vanished, for Drusilla was more
gracious than ever, and Marc Antony squeezed my
hand at parting, and assured me, as well as he could
articulate after six tumblers of hot Farintosh, ' that I
was a lucky man, and Drusilla a woman in ten thousand.'

" Well, the knot was tied, and but for the eclat of the
thing, the ceremony might have been as safely solem-
nised at Margate. On the lady's side, the property was
strictly personal. Her claim upon the estates of the
defunct Field- Marshal was never since established, for
the properties of that distinguished commander could
never be localised. Marc Antony had been a borrower
from the first hour of our intimacy ; and on the morning
of her marriage, Drusilla, I have reason to believe,
was not mistress of ten pounds — but then, she was a
treasure in herself, and so swore Marc Antony.

" The private history of a honeymoon I leave to be
narrated by those who have found that haven of bliss
which I had pictured but never realised. If racketing
night and day over every quarter ot the metropolis,
with the thermometer steady at 90 ; if skirmishing from
Kensington to the Haymarket, and thence to Astley's
and Vauxhall,with frequent excursions to those suburban
hotels infested by high-spirited apprentices, ' and maids

310 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

who love the moon : ' — if this be pleasure, 1 had no
reason to repine. In these affairs ' our loving cousin '
was an absolute dictator, and against his decrees there vras
no appeal. To me, a quiet and nervous gentleman,
Marc's arrangements were detestable. What he called
life, was death to me — his ideas of pleasure were formed
on the keep-moving plan — and to sleep a second night
in the same place, would be, according to his theories,
an atrocity. I found myself sinking under this excessive
happiness ; and when I ventured a gentle protest against
being whirled off in a thunder-storm from the ' Star and
Garter ' to the ' Greyhound,' I received a cross-fire
that silenced me effectually From that period I sub-
mitted without a murmur ; my days were numbered ;
another month like that entitled the honey-one, would
consign me to my fathers ; the last of the Dawkinses
would vanish from among men, and a mural monument
in St. Saviour's record my years and virtues. But
accident saved my life, though it annihilated my property
" Years before I led Drusilla to the altar, a Connemara
estate, which had belonged to her progenitors, and had
been ruined in succession by the respective lords, was
utterly demolished by a gentleman whom she termed
her ' lamented father.' The property had been in
chancery for half a century, and advertised for sale
beyond the memory of man ; but as it was overloaded
with every species of encumbrance, no one in his senses
would have accepted the fee simple as a gift. But my
wife had determined that Castle Toole should be
redeemed, and rise once more, Phoenix-like, from its
embarrassments. It owed, she admitted, more than it
was worth, twice told — but then, sure, it was the family
property. There> for four centuries, O'Tooles had died,

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 311

and O'Shaughnesseys been born ; and if she could
only persuade me to repurchase it with my wealth,
she would be the first lady in the barony. To Marc
Antony this project was enchanting. Baliybroney had
been roofless for the last twenty years, that being about
the period when the last of the ' dirty acres,' which had
once appertained to the mansion, had slipped from the
fingers of the Bodkins ; therefore, to establish himself
at Castle Toole, would suit my kinsman to a hair. In
short, the battery was unmasked ; and whether over-
persuaded by the eloquence of my wife, the arguments
of her cousin, or driven to desperation by a life of
pleasure, I consented in due time ; and having
accompanied my honoured counsellors to Dublin,
found no competitor for Castle Toole — proposed for
the same — paid a large sum of money, and was declared,
by the legal functionaries, a gentleman of estate, and that,
too, in Connemara.

" In my eyes, the value of the purchase was not
enhanced by a personal investigation. It had its
capabilities, it is true ; the house being a ruin, might be
repaired ; and as the lands were in their primeval state,
it was possible to reclaim them. Still, when one looked
at a huge, dismantled building of that mixed class in
architecture between a fortalice and a dwellinghouse,
with grey-flagged roof, lofty chimneys, embattled
parapets, and glassless windows, it was ill-calculated
to encourage an English speculator in Irish estates.
On every side a boundless expanse of barren moorland
was visible, with an insulated portion of green surface
on which the castle stood, and a few straggling trees
remained from what had once been a noble oak wood.
That some savage beauty did exist in the wild highlands,

312 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

a fine river, and an extensive lake, is certain ; but to me,
the scenery and the place were dreary and disheartening.
In vain, therefore, did my friend Marc Antony dilate
upon its advantages. The river boasted the best
salmon fishing in the country. What was it to me
who had never angled for a gudgeon r The mountains
abounded with grouse — who but a native could escalade
them ? The bogs were celebrated for game — and
would I devote myself, like another Decius, to be
engulfed, for all the wild ducks that ever wore a wing ?
But then, The Blazers were only a few miles distant,
and their favourite fixture was on the estate. Really,
the proximity of that redoubted body produced a cold
perspiration when I heard it. The Blazers \ the most
sanguinary fox-club in Connaught — a gang who would
literally devastate the country, if it did not please
Heaven to thin their numbers annually by broken necks
and accidents from pistol bullets. Yet, with me, the
Rubicon was crossed — Castle Toole was mine with all
its imperfections, and I determined to exert my
philosophy to endure what it was impossible to undo.

" To restore the decayed glories of the mansion, you
may well imagine was a work of trouble and expense.
It was done, and Drusilla slept again under the roof- tree
of her progenitors. Hitherto I had indulged her fancies
without murmuring, and some of them were superlatively
absurd. I hoped and believed that when the hurry of
re-establishing the ruin I had been fool enough to
purchase was over, the worry and confusion of my
unhappy life would terminate. While the repairs
proceeded, we resided in a small house in a neighbouring
village, and were not much annoyed by unwelcome
visitors. But no sooner was the castle completed, and

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 313

the apartments reported habitable, than the country for
fifty miles round complotted, as I verily believe, to
inundate us with their company. A sort of saturnalia,
called the house-warming, I thought destined to continue
for ever ; and after having endured a purgatorial state
for several weeks, and the tumult and vulgar dissipation
had abated, swarms of relations to the third and fourth
generation of those that loved us, kept dropping in,
in what they termed the quiet, friendly way, until ' the
good house Money-glass '* was outstripped in hospitality
by my devoted mansion. Although ten long miles
from a post-town, we were never secure from an inroad.
Men who bore the most remote affinity to the families
of O'Shaughnessey or O'Toole, deserted the corners
of the earth to spoliate the larder ; and persons who,
during the course of their natural lives, had never before
touched fishing-rod or fowling piece, now borrowed
them ' for the nonce,' and deemed it a good and sufficient
apology for living on me for a fortnight Pedlars
abandoned their accustomed routes ; friars diverged
a score of miles to take us on ' the mission ; ' pipers
infested the premises ; and even deserters honoured
me with a passing call, ' for the house had such a name.'
All and every calculated on that cursed ceade jealteagh.
An eternal stream of the idle and dissipated filled the
house — the kitchen fire, like the flame of Vesta, was
never permitted to subside — and a host of locusts
devoured my property. I lived and submitted, and

* This once celebrated mansion is immortalized in the old ballad
called " Bumper Squire Jones," which chronicles the princely
hospitalities of that puissant and hard-headed family. I,ike " the
Kilruddery Foxchase," it was a mighty favourite with the stout old
sportsmen in those merry days. More popular airs have caused these
popular and soul-stirring lyrics to be disused, and, like those whose
feats they recounted, they are now almost forgotten.

314 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

yet had the consolation to know that I was the most
unpopular being in the province. I was usually
described as a ' dry devil,' or a ' dark* dirty, little man; '
while upon Drusilla blessings rained,and she was admitted
to be ' the best sowl that ever laid leg below mahogany ! '
" I was weary of this state. Marc Antony was in
regular possession of an apartment, which was duly
termed by the servants ' Mr. Bodkin's room.' Summer
passed, and so did autumn and its host of grouse shooters.
I foolishly hoped that, considering the locality of Castle
Toole, my locusts would banish with the butterflies ;
but the only difference a rainy day made was, that the
visitor who arrived never dreamed of departing till the
morrow, and the numbers by no means abated. Some
heavy bills came in, and I seized that opportunity of
remonstrating with Drusilla. I told her my health was
breaking, my fortune unequal to my expenses ; that
common prudence required a certain limitation to our
irregular hospitality ; hinted that, though an occasional
visit from Mr. Marc Antony Bodkin would be agreeable,
yet that an everlasting abode would rather be a bore.
I would have continued, but my lady had listened, she
thought, too long already. She fired at the very idea
of retrenchment ; and as to Mr. Marc Antony Bodkin,
we were, it appeared, too much honoured by his society.
He, a third cousin of Clanricarde, condescended to
take my place, and entertain my company. He rode my
horses and drank my wine, neither of which feats, as
she opined, nature had designed me for doing in proper
person ; in short, by Herculean efforts on his part, he
enabled me to hold my place among gentlemen. As

* " Dark," in the kingdom of Connaught, is frequently used
synonymously with " unsocial."

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 315

to the paltry consideration of his residence, what was
it ? ' God be with the time, when,' as her ' lamented
father ' said, ' a stranger remained for eighteen months
in Castle Toole, and would probably have lived and died
there, but that his wife discovered him, and forced the
truant to abdicate ; and yet,' she added, proudly, ' none
could tell whether he was from Wales or Enniskillen ;
and some believed his name was Hamerton, while others
asserted it was Mackintosh. But,' as she concluded,
' when her kinsman, Mr. Bodkin, was turned out, it
was time for her to provide a residence,' and she flung
from the room like a Bacchante, making door and window
shiver.

" Well, Sir, you may pity or despise me as you will ;
from that day my wife assumed the absolute mastery
and I calmly submitted. The house was now a scene
of wild and unrestricted extravagance. Tenants ran
away, cattle were depreciated, and worse still, claims
made upon the property that had never been foreseen,
and in nine months I was engaged in as many lawsuits.
I must have sunk beneath these calamities, but a domestic
event gave a new turn to my hopes. No heir had yet
been promised, when happily, it was whispered that
this blessing was not an impossibility. Day after day
confirmed the happy news, till at last it was regularly
announced in the ' Connaught Journal,' that Mrs.
Dawkins, of Castle Toole, was ' as ladies wish to be who
love their lords.'

" Of course, from that moment any contradiction
would have been death to my dear Drusilla. She never
reigned lady-paramount till now, and her will was
absolute. Relatives trooped down in scores, and Marc
Antony was doubly cherished. Notwithstanding my

316 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

nerves thrilled at their arrival, the Blazers were honourably
feasted ; and, at the especial request of Mrs. Dawkins,
on that occasion I determined to make a character.
I really was half a hero ; presided at the head of my
own table like its master, gave divers bumper toasts,
and sat out the evening, until I was fairly hors de combat,
and tumbled from the chair. Drunk as I was, I
recollected clearly all that passed. As but a couple
of bottles a man had been then discussed, my early
fall appeared to create a sensation. ' Is it a fit he has ? '
inquired an under-sized gentleman with an efflorescent
nose, who had been pointed out to me as a six-bottle
customer. ' Phoo ! ' replied my loving cousin, ' the
man has no more bottom than a chicken. Lift him ;
he has a good heart, but a weak head, He'll never do for
Galway ! But come, lads,' and Marc hopped over my
body, as I was being taken up by the servants, ' I'll
give you that top-sawyer, his wife, and long may she
wear the breeches ! ' It was gratifying to find that the
toast was generally admired, for the very attendants
that ' bore the corpse along,' stopped at the door, and
shouted ' hip, hip, hurra ! ' from the staircase.

" Every day from this period I became more unhappy
and contemptible. My blue-stocking aunt, who, for
reasons unnecessary to explain, had been, since my
marriage totally estranged, was now officially informed,
that the name of Dawkins would be continued. She had
the true leven of family affection in her, and my past
neglect was pardoned, and the kindest letter returned
to my communication. One passage of her epistle
ran thus — ' Though I felt acutely at your selecting a
wife without even consulting one of whose attachment
you must be well convinced, I forgive all, from the

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 317

personal description you give of your consort. May
the heir of our line be like his mother, is my prayer !
For, oh, Daniel, my predilection for dark beauty is the
same, and my conviction unalterable, that even

" Genius a dead loss is,

With dark brows and long proboscis. "

" Poor woman ! no wonder she thus considered :
a sergeant in the Guards, with a countenance of the true
Kemble character, had, in early life, almost turned her
brain ; and Tooley Street was kept in an uproar, until
he was fortunately drafted off to join the Duke of York
upon the Continent, and there, in due time, rested in
the bed of glory.

It is a lamentable thing for a man of sensibility
to wed a woman whose conduct he considers irreconcilable
to his ideas of what female delicacy demands — and
such was my case. Drusilla not only assumed the
mastery within doors, but she extended her sway to the
farm and the horses. One day, at the head of a hundred
paupers, she was planting trees ; the next, with Marc
Antony Bodkin, making a radical reform in the stables.
On these occasions, arrayed in a man's hat, with her
limbs cased in Hessian boots, she looked, as Tom the
Devil said, ' blasted knowing.' I occasionally was
permitted to attend, as a sort of travelling conveniency
to hang her cloak upon ; and I never returned without
some indignity from strangers, or personal disrespect
from herself. It was death to me to hear her addressed
in the coarse language of the stable, and allusions made
to her altered figure, which appeared too vulgar even for
the servants' hall ; and when a fellow of forbidding
countenance, with a scarlet coat and white unmentionables
whom the rest of the gang distinguished as ' Long

318 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

Lanty,' crooked up the bottom of her dress with his
hunting whip, exclaiming, ' Bone and sinew, by the holy !
what a leg for a boot ! ' I could have knocked the
ruffian down, had I been able, although for the exploit
I should be taxed with my false delicacy, and the usual
wind-up, ' It will never do for Galway \ '

" Shy from my cradle, and accustomed to city
formality, I was not likely to become at once inhabited
to Irish manners. But in Connaught there was a laxity
of form — a free-and-easy system of society, that exceeded
all belief, and to a distant person like me, was intolerable.
People on a half-hour's acquaintance called you by
your Christian name ; and men, whom you had never
even heard of, rode to your door, and told you coolly
they ' would stay a fortnight.' Introductions in
Connemara, I believe are reckoned among the works
of supererogation. If I took a quiet ride, expecting
upon my return to meet none at dinner but my wife
and the eternal Marc Antony, I probably found half
a score already seated at the table, and might learn the
appellatives of perhaps a couple of the gang, by the
announcement of 'Mr. Dawkins, Tom the Devil,'
' Mr. Dawkins, Smashall Sweeney.'

" I remember upon the day on which I was so fortunate
as to make the acquaintance of the above gentlemen,
in the course of the evening they differed about the
colour of a race-horse, and, after bandying mutual
civilities, concluded by interchanging the lie direct and
a full decanter. The latter having grazed my head,
induced me to abscond immediately ; and when I
recorded to my loving helpmate the narrow escape
from demolition I had just experienced, instead of
tender alarm and connubial sympathy, her countenance

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 319

betrayed irrepressible disappointment and surprise.
' And have you, Mr. Dawkins, really deserted your
company, and that, too, at a period when two gentlemen
had disagreed ? Do return immediately. Such in-
hospitality, I assure you, will never do Jor Galtvay.'
I did return ; but I had my revenge, and dearly it
cost me, though neither of the rascals were shot upon
my lawn. Smashall rode off my lady's favourite mare
in mistake, and sent her back next morning with a pair
of broken knees — and Tom the Devil set fire to his bed-
curtains the same night, and nothing but a miracle saved
the house. Everything in the apartment, however,
was consumed or rendered unserviceable.

" As I became more intimate with my wife's relatives,
1 found that nothing but the lamp of Aladdin would
meet their multifarious demands. Castle Toole, like
the cave of Adulam, was the certain refuge of all gentlemen
who happened to be in debt and difficulty. All that came
here were, what is called in Connemara, ' upon the
borrowing hand ; ' and when the sum appeared to be
too large to be forthcoming in cash, nothing could be
more accommodating in their overtures, — They would
make my acceptance answer ; they would wish it at
sixty-one days ; but if it obliged me particularly, they
could contrive to extend it to three months. It was,
of course, a matter of mere form ; it would be regularly
provided for ; it would, ' upon honour ! ' If, after
all this, 1 hesitated, 1 did it on personal responsibility ;
and sooner than be perforated upon my own lawn, actually
suffered myself to be made liable for some hundreds.
When I complained bitterly of these spoliations to my
wife, I received the usual comfort, ' Dear me, how narrow
your ideas are ! If my uncle Ulic had asked you for

320

WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

the money, it would have been a different affair. And
so, all he wants is the accommodation of your name !
Ah ! if my ' lamented father ' was alive, how would he
be astonished ! Many a time he and poor Ulic assisted
each other. Indeed, the dear old man used to mention
an amusing anecdote. They once purchased a pipe
of port, paid for it with a two months' bill, and when the
time expired, the wine was drunk, and the note protested.
They had consumed so much from the wood, that it
was not worth while to bottle the remainder. Do,
Mr. Dawkins, at once oblige my uncle Ulic. Get rid
of these narrow ideas. Believe me, they will never do
for Galway.'

" There was another thing that added to my miseries,
and yet to my honoured helpmate it was a subject of
unmeasured pride. It so happened that the geographical
position of my ill-omened estate was nearly on the
boundaries of Galway and Mayo — counties no less
remarkable for their extent than the truculent disposition
of the inhabitants. From time immemorial my lawn
was the chosen fixture for determining affairs of honour ;
and hence, more blood had been shed there than on any
similar spot in Christendom. If the civil authorities
were so ungentlemanly as to interrupt the combatants,
the latter merely crossed the adjacent bridge, and finished
the affair to their satisfaction. It is right, however,
to say that the magistracy seldom interfered ; and if
a functionary was forced out by some mean-spirited
relative, though the fears of the Lord Chancellor might
deter him from refusing his intervention, he still contrived
to miss the road, cast a shoe, be run away with, or meet
some unhappy casualty, that one of the parties might
be defunct, and the survivor in a place of safety, before

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 321

he, the justice, appeared upon the battle-ground.
Hence, not a week elapsed but my nerves were tortured
by the arrival of a shooting- party, and probably further
agonised by hearing Mr. Bodkin hallooing to the butler,
' Michael (sotto voce,) devil speed ye, Michael ! the
mistress desires ye to keep back dinner till the gentlemen
have done, and to present her compliments, and say,
that she expects the company of the survivor.'

" All this was horrible to me ; in the evening to be
suddenly disturbed with pop ! pop ! and an outcry ;
or awakened before daylight by my lady's maid opening
the curtains with a curtsey, to know ' where the dead men
would be stritched.' It was, moreover, a desperate
tax upon my finances ; vagabonds, known and unknown,
lay for weeks together in my house, while their broken
bones were being re-united — not a month passed but
there was some dying man in the state-room — doctors
came and went as regularly as the post-boy — and once
in each quarter the coroner,* if he had any luck,
empanelled a jury in our hall.

" Nor were we less tormented with the Blazers. We
always had a lame horse or two in the stables ; and from
the time cub-hunting commenced, till the season ended,
of that redoubted community who hazard

' Neck and spine,

Which rural gentlemen call sport divine,'

we never boasted fewer than a couple on the sick-list.
Once, when an inquest was holding in the house, a Blazer
in the best bed-room, a dying earth-stopper in the gate-
house, and four disabled horses, ' at rack and manger,'
I insinuated what a nuisance it was to have one's house

* In Conn aught this useful officer is paid by the job, and the
number with which he occasionally debits the county is surprising.

Y

322 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

made a ' morgue' and the offices an hospital. — ' Do
Mr. Dawkins, have done,' exclaimed my lady — ' If,
you have no humanity, pray conceal it. Believe me,
your feelings will never do for Galway'

11 But Drusilla had her reward. What though we
kept a lazaretto for lame horses, and a general wakehouse
for gentlemen of honour who left the world without
sufficient assets to procure a grave ; our lights were not
hidden, nor our charities unrecorded. There was not
a man shot, or an arm broken, but my lady wife was
dragged neck and crop into the columns of the Connaught
Journal — as, for example : —

" ' THE LATE CAPTAIN MACNAB. — Further particulars,
— When the lamented gentleman fell, his second, Mr.
Peter Brannick, raised the body in his arms. Life,
however, was totally extinct, as the ball had fractured
the fifth rib, and passed directly through the pericardium.
In its transit, the fatal bullet shattered a portable
tobacco-pipe, which the deceased invariably carried
in his right waistcoat pocket. The body was
immediately removed upon a door to Castle Toole,
where every attention to the remains of a gallant soldier
was given by the accomplished mistress. Indeed,
it is but right to say, that this estimable lady superintended
in person the laying out of the corpse. At midnight
three friars from Ballyhownis, and a number of the
resident clergy attended, and a solemn high Mass
was celebrated in the great hall. The reverend gentlemen
employed upon this melancholy occasion, have expressed
their deep sense of the urbanity of the lady of the
mansion.

" ' We understand that, at the especial request of
Mrs. Dawkins, the body will remain in state at Castle

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 323

Toole, until it is removed to its last resting-place, the
family burying-ground at Carrick Nab.' — Connaught
Journal.

" ' The friends and relatives of Mr. Cornelius
Coolaghan will be delighted to hear that he has been
pronounced convalescent by Dr. M'Greal. A mistake
has crept into the papers, stating that the accident
was occasioned by his grey mare, Miss Magaraghan,
falling at a six feet wall. The fact was that the injury
occurred in attempting to ride in and out of the pound
of Ballymacraken, for a bet of ten pounds. As the
village inn was not deemed sufficiently quiet, Mr. C. C.
was carried to the hospitable mansion of Castle Toole.
It is needless to add, that every care was bestowed upon
the sufferer by the elegant proprietress. Indeed, few
of the gentler sex so elegantly combine the charms and
amiabilities of the beautiful Mrs. Dawkins.' — Ibid.

" Well, sir, I submitted to my fate with more than
mortal fortitude. I saw that in rashly marrying one
in taste, feeling and sentiment so totally my opposite,
I had wrecked my happiness for ever, and that I must
submit. My pride would sometimes fire at the slights
I suffered from my very underlings, and the cool contempt
of those locusts who lived only upon my bounty. I
was reduced to utter dependency, and yet I never
murmured a remonstrance. Presently, my wife took
possession of my banker's book — yet I did not rebel —
for my nerves were weak, my spirit humble ; — fate made
my own conduct punish me, and I had philosophy to
bear it patiently. But one thing reconciled me to much
misery — it was a darling hope — a cherished fancy —
this was left when all besides had fled, and I clung to it
with the tenacity of a wretch who seizes the reed to

324 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

support him while he drowns. That hope, that sole
dependence, was in my unborn child ; on that being,
haply, I might lavish my love ; — and when nothing
else remained on earth whereon to rest my affections,
I turned to a visionary thing, a creature not in existence,
as an object on which to fix my heart. You smile ;
but ah, sirs, remember I had not nerves and feelings
like the multitude. I am a poor helpless wretch, unfitted
to withstand the villainy of mankind, and struggle through
a world where the boldest will often blench, and the
wisest hold their course with difficulty."

He became deeply agitated, and though, poor fellow,
I had laughed heartily at the faithful picture he gave,
in the course of his narrative, of all concerned, I could
not but respect his griefs. He soon continued —

" At times I felt a misgiving in my bosom, and pangs
of jealousy tormented me. I saw much culpable
familiarity between my wife and her relative : and for
some trifling cause, she and I, for some time past, had
not occupied the same apartment. Could she forget
herself and me so far ? Oh, no, no, she could not !
She would not do a being like me, who submitted to
her command, and sacrificed everything to her fancy,
so base, so cruel an injury ! I never harmed a worm
willingly ; and surely she would not wrong one so
totally her thrall — her worshipper, as I ?

" I considered that between the parties there existed
a near relationship, and natural habits and early intimacy
might warrant what was certainly indelicate, but still
might not be criminal. God help me ! At times my
brain burned — my senses were almost wandering,
and had this state of torture long continued, I must,
ere now, have been the inmate of a madhouse.

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 325

" The time of her trial came, and at that awful hour,
I am told, women like to have their husbands near
them, for those they love can sometimes whisper hope,
and rouse the drooping courage of the sufferer. But
I was specially excluded from the chamber of the
patient, although constant messages passed between
the lady and her kinsman. The trial ended happily —
a boy was born — the servants flocked round me, to
offer their rude congratulations ; but the nurse cast on
me such a look of mingled pity and comtempt as almost
struck me lifeless. I asked affectionately for my wife
— I inquired tenderly for my child. ' It is a fine boy,'
said a young, wild, light-hearted creature, the housemaid ;
' it has the longest legs I ever saw ; and, its hair is as
red as Lanty Driscoll's jacket. ' It was killing — murderous.
Then I was the wretch my worst fears had whispered,
and a child was born — but not to me."

He paused, completely overcome. I felt my eye
moisten at the deep, though simple, pathos of the story-
teller. There was a sorrow, an agony, in his melancholy
detail, that touched the heart more sensibly than calamities
of deeper character and greater men.

After a short pause, he thus continued :

" The day, the most eventful of my life, if my
wedding one be excepted, at last arrived, and had it
been nominated for my undergoing the extreme penalty
of the law, it could not have brought more horror with
it. I felt the fulness of my degradation. I was a
miserable puppet, obliged to pretend a blindness to
disgrace, of which my conviction was entire ; and,
automaton as I was considered, and little as my looks
or feelings were consulted, the deep melancholy of
my face did not escape my conscience-stricken partner.

326 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

She became pale and agitated, while with affected
indifference of manner, she taxed me with rudeness
to my company, and more especially to herself. What
would the world say, if on this high festival, when the
heir of Castle Toole was to be presented to his relatives,
I should appear more like a monk at a death-wake than a
happy parent ? ' Lord ! Mr. Dawkins, this moping is so
unmanly. Here will be the O'Tooles and the
O'Shaughnesseys, Blakes and Burkes, Bellews and
Bodkins : they will feel it a personal insult. If you
encourage these humours, I assure you, Mr. Dawkins,
you will never do for Galway.' Before this jobation
ended, carriage- wheels grated on the gravel, and men,
women, and children commenced and continued pouring
in, as if another deluge had begun, and Castle Toole
was an ark of safety.

" While the house was crowded within, the space
before it appeared to be in the possession of numerous
banditti. The tenants, of course, had flocked hither to
do honour to the christening. For their refreshment
a beeve was roasted whole, and beer and whisky
lavishly distributed. I never saw such a scene of waste
and drunkenness before, although I had hitherto believed
that my residence was the veriest rack-rent in the world.
In every corner pipers played, women danced, men
drank, and swearing and love-making was awful. There,
while dinner was being served, I had stolen forth to vent
my agony unnoticed. I am not, sirs, gifted with that
command of nerve which can exhibit hollow smiles
while the bosom is inly bleeding. To affect gaiety
so foreign to my heart, I felt would break it ; but the
desperate misery that I endured would spur the dullest
soul to madness. I viewed the rude revelry with

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 327

disgust. 1 was the master of the feast, but the savages
barely recognised me. Generally they spoke in their
native language ; and though I did not exactly
comprehend all that they said, I heard enough to assure
me of my utter insignificance in their rude estimate of
character, Under a gate-pier two old women were
sitting ; they did not notice me, and continued their
discourse.

' ' Ally, asthore, did ye see the child ? They say it's
the picture of Marc Bodkin.'

' Whisht, ye divil ! ' was the rejoinder, as the crone
proceeded, with a chuckle ; * it has red hair, any
how : but Neil an skil a gau maun* and ye know
best.'

" But the further humiliation of assisting at the
ceremony was saved me. In the hurry consequent
upon the general confusion, the post-bag was handed
to me instead of my lady-wife, who lately had managed
all correspondence. Mechanically I opened the bag,
and a letter, bearing the well-known direction of my
aunt, met my eye. That, under circumstances, it
should have reached me, appeared miraculous, and,
seizing an opportunity, J examined its contents in
private. My kind relation had received my detail of misery,
and, in reply, she implored me to abandon the scene of
my degradation, and share her fortune, which was more,
she said, than sufficient for us both. My heart beat with
conflicting emotions — all unworthy as she was, I could
not bring myself to abandon Drusilla thus 1 actually
hesitated, when curiosity prompted me to peruse a

* Anglice, " I have no skill IB it."

328 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

letter which was addressed to her, and marked immediate.
Its contents were these :—

" ' Dear Madam,

" ' I have by this post received the two writs, as
expected. 1 settled the Ex. against Mr. M. A. B., and
he may come to town any time till further notice. With
respect to those against Mr. Dawkins, it is as well to
let things take their course. He is a gentleman of
retired habits, and a little confinement, particularly as
he don't hunt, will be quite immaterial. I received the
bullocks, but, as cattle are down, there is still a balance
due.

" ' A Dublin wine-merchant has just handed me an
Ex. for £613, and insists upon accompanying me to Castle
Toole I have therefore named Wednesday, on which
day you will please to have the doors closed. As the
plaintiff may again be officious, I would recommend
his being ducked, when returning, and a city bailiff,
whom you will know by his having a scorbutic face
and yellow waistcoat, should, for many reasons, be
corrected. Pray, however, take care the boys do not
go too far, as manslaughter, under the late act, is now
a transportable felony.

" ' The sooner Mr. D. renders to prison the better.
Tell your Uncle Ulic I have returned non est to his
three last; but he must not show. You can drop me
a line by bearer when you wish Mr. D. to be arrested ;
and after we return nulla bona on Wednesday, I will
come out and arrange matters generally.

" ' Believe me, dear Madam, truly yours,

" ' JOHN GRADY, Sub-sheriff, Galway.
" ' Mrs. Dawkins, Castle Toole.'

NOT THE MAN FOR GALWAY. 329

' ' P.S. What a blessing it is for poor Mr. Dawkins
that he has such a woman of business to manage his
affairs! He is a well-meaning man, but he'll never do
for Galway.

" ' J. G.'

" Had I been ten times over the tame wretch I was,
I could not be insensible to the deep treachery of this
worthless woman, who had ruined my property, and
would now incarcerate my person. In spite of
remonstrances upon its apparent inhospitality, I
abandoned the ' impious feast,' and while my absence
was neither missed nor regarded, I stole from the
accursed spot, and by bribing a wandering stocking-man,
was enabled to make my way to the coast, and procure
a fishing-boat to place myself beyond the power of
arrest. The same bad luck appeared to follow me :
The drunkenness of the scoundrels threatened to
interrupt my escape, and even place my life in peril.
From these mishaps you have delivered me, and by your
prompt assistance I shall affect my retreat from a
country I must ever recollect with horror. When I
reach England, I will seek reparation for my injuries ;
and though all besides is gone, I shall at least endeavour
to liberate myself from the worthless woman who
abused a weak and too confiding husband.

" Alas ! gentlemen, what a stream of misfortunes
will sometimes originate in a trifle. A Margate steamer
entailed a life of suffering upon me. My fortune
vanished, my wife deceived me — laughed at by my
friends, and ridiculed by my enemies — from all these
complicated misfortunes, I have learned but one simple
fact — Alas ! ' That I should never do for Galway ! ' '

330 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXXV.

I SLEPT soundly : my servant found me still a-bed
when he came at his customary hour ; as he unclosed
the curtains I heard a hum of voices, and appearances
of domestic hurry were visible ; next moment the well-
known Currakeen, whose celebrity as a courier is truly
remarkable, passed the window at a " killing-pace."
I found, upon inquiry, that the otter-killer was dying,
and that " the runner " I had just observed, had been
dispatched for Father Andrew.

The ancient retainer of an Jrish family generally
establishes a bond upon the affections of the wild house-
hold, that causes his loss to make a greater sensation
than so humble an event might be supposed to occasion.
Antony, for half a century had been attached to this
family. Three generations have passed since he first
settled beneath the roof-tree ; and he has been asso-
ciated with every earlier recollection of the present
master. No wonder I found my kinsman in con-
siderable distress. The old man was dying — and
youthful scenes, and youthful days, when the stormier
passions had not broken " the sunshine of the breast,"
were now vividly recalled by the approaching dissolution
of his ancient and devoted follower.

The summons to the Priest was instantly attended, —
Father Andrew returned with the messenger, and was
immediately closeted with the penitent. Poor Antony's
simple life had few dark recollections to harrow his
parting hour. His shrift was short and satisfactory ;
and at his own request, when the rites of the Roman

DEATH OF THE OTTER-KILLER. 331

Catholic Church had been duly celebrated, my cousin
and myself were summoned to his bedside.

The old man was supported by Hennessey, as a
difficulty in breathing obliged him to be raised up ;
and the scene was at once simple and imposing. The
early monitor of his youthful fishing-days — the being
who had in mountain pastimes been so frequently his
companion, possibly recalled softer recollections, and
a deep shade of sorrow overspread the countenance of
the " stern homicide." The black-eyed girl, who held
a teaspoon to his lips, vainly endeavouring to introduce
some nourishment, wept over him like a lamenting
child. His faithful terrier sat at the bed-foot, and the
fixed and melancholy look that the poor animal turned
on her dying master, would have half persuaded me
that Venom knew she was about to lose him. Dim as
iiis eye was, it lighted as my kinsman's tall figure
darkened the entrance of the chamber ; and feebly
putting forth his hand, he clasped that of his beloved
master with affection, and while weakness and imperfect
breathing sadly interrupted his " last farewell," ne
could with some difficulty thus collect his words.

" I'm going, Master Julius, and may the blessing of
the Almighty attend ye ! Sure, I should be thankful,
with all about me to make me easy to the last. I saw
your grandfather stretched — I sat beside your father
when he departed, may the Lord be merciful to both !
and I die with yourself and the clargy to comfort my last
hour, praises be to Mary, Master Julius, will you listen
to a dying man ; he that carried ye in his arms, and
loved ye better than all the world besides ? — ye '11 take
my advice. Marry, Julius avourneen — the ould name
that since the days of Shamul a Croaghah held land and

332 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

honour — surely you won't let it pass ? Mind the old
man's last words — and now Heaven bless ye ! " And
in feeble tones he continued muttering benedictions
upon all around him. My cousin was really affected,
and the Priest, perceiving the increasing feebleness
of the otter-killer, requested us to retire. We were
obeying, when Antony rallied suddenly and unex-
pectedly : — " You will mind the dog, for my sake,
Master Julius — and ye'll let trap and fishing-rod hang
up in the hall, to put ye in mind of old Antony ? "
These were his last connected words — his strength
failed fast ; his memory wandered to other times ;
" he babbled of green fields," he murmured the names
of lakes and rivers — and while the affectionate Priest
prayed fervently beside his old and innocent com-
panion, the otter-killer rendered his last sigh in the arms
of Hennessey and the weeping Alice !

Talk of parade around the couch of fortune, and
what a heartless display is it ! / saw a rich man die ;
1 saw the hollow mockery of hireling attendants and
interested friends ; but here, that simple, unsophisti-
cated being had a sincerity of grief bestowed upon his
death-bed, that to wealth and grandeur would be un-
attainable I

There was a loud and agonizing burst of sorrow
when the otter-killer's death was communicated to
those in the hall and kitchen, who, during the closing
scene, had been with difficulty prevented from crowding
the apartment of the sufferer. But this noisy demon-
stration of regard was speedily checked by old John,
who knew that his master would be doubly displeased
should any tumultuary waitings render me uncomfortable.

In a short time, order was tolerably established ;

DEATH OF THE OTTER-KILLER. 333

and with one exception, a quiet and respectful silence
supervened. A stout, though aged crone, occasionally
burst into wild lament, accompanied by a beating on
her breast, which, like the signal to a chorus, elicited a
fresh ebullition from the subordinate mourners. John,
however, interposed his authority effectually. — " Bada-
hust, hanamondioul, badahust, I say ! ye may keinagh
at the funeral, but ye mustn't disturb the master and
the company." This jobation restored tranquillity, and
in " decent grief " the otter-killer's corpse was duly
laid out in its funeral habiliments.

The evening wore on heavily — my kinsman was
sensibly affected ; his old monitor in the gentle art was
gone ; and though full in years, and ripe for the tomb,
his master felt that " he could have better spared a
better man." There was heart-sinking about our party
which I had never marked before. The wine had lost
its charm ; and while the Colonel and the Priest com-
menced a game of piquet, my cousin ordered the gig,
and proposed that we should pull over to the herring-
boats, which, in the next estuary, and on the preceding
night, had been unusually successful. Accordingly,
having lighted our pipes and procured our boat-cloaks,
we left the pier-head in the four-oared galley.

The night was unusually dark and warm ; not a
breath of wind was on the water ; the noise of the oars,
springing in the coppered rowlocks, was heard for a
mile off, and the whistle of sand-pipers and jack curlews,
as they took wing from the beach we skirted, appeared
unusually shrill. Other noises gradually broke the
stillness of the night — the varied hum of numerous
voices chanting the melancholy songs which are the
especial favourites of the Irish, began to be heard

334 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

distinctly — and we soon bore down upon the midnight
fishers directed by sound, not sight.

To approach the fleet was a task of some difficulty.
The nets, extended in interminable lines, were so fre-
quent, that much skill was necessary to penetrate this
hempen labyrinth without fouling the back ropes.
Warning cries directed our course, and with some delay
we threaded the crowded surface, and, guided by buoys
and puckawns, found ourselves in the very centre of
the flotilla.

It was an interesting scene. Momently the boats
glided along the back ropes, which were supported at
short intervals by corks, and at a greater, by inflated
dog-skins, and, raising the curtain of network which
these suspended, the herrings were removed from the
meshes, and deposited in the boats. Some of the nets
were particularly fortunate, obliging their proprietors
to frequently relieve them of the fish ; while others,
though apparently stretched within a few yards, and
consequently in the immediate run of the herrings,
were favoured but with a few stragglers ; and the indo-
lent fisherman had to occupy himself with a sorrowful
ditty, or in moody silence watch the dark sea " like
some dull ghost waiting on Styx for waftage."

Our visit appeared highly satisfactory, for the ceade
fealteagh, with a lament for " ould Antony," was univer-
sal, while every boat tossed herrings on board, until
we were obliged to refuse further largess, and these
many " trifles of fish " accumulated so rapidly, that we
eventually declined receiving further compliments, or
we might have loaded the gig gunnel deep.

The darkness of the night increased the scaly bril-
liancy which the phosphoric properties of these beautiful

DEATH OF THE OTTER- KILLER. 335

fish produce. The bottom of the boat, now covered with
some thousand herrings, glowed with a living light,
which the imagination could not create, and the pencil
never imitate. The shades of gold and silvery gems
were rich beyond description ; and much as I had heard of
phosphoric splendour before, every idea I had formed
fell infinitely short of its reality.

The same care with which we entered disembarrassed
us of the midnight fishing : every boat we passed pressed
hard to throw in a " cast of skuddawns* for the strange
gentleman," meaning me ; and such was the kindness
of these hospitable creatures, that had I been a very
Behemoth I should have this night feasted to satiety
on their bounty.

The wind, which had been asleep, began now to sigh
over the surface, and before we had cleared the outer
back-ropes, the sea-breeze came curling " the midnight
wave." The tide was flowing fast, and having stepped
the mast, we spread our large lug, and the light galley
slipped speedily ashore. A fire which I had noticed
above the Lodge kindling gradually, fanned by the rising
night-breeze, sprang at once into a glorious flame ; and
through the darkness its intense light must have been for
many leagues discernible. I broke my cousin's musing,
to ask what it was.

" That, my friend, is one of our ancient customs ;
that is our heal- fire. It is lighted to notify that a death
has occurred, and ere long you will see it answered
by some of our friends and kindred. Poor old man !
none deserved it better, for he would have attended religi-
ously to such observances, had any of my family preceded
him to the grave. He lighted my father's beal-fire, and
* Anglice, Herrings.

336 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

possibly kindled that of my grandsire ; old John has
probably performed the ceremony for him : thus the
kindlier offices are continued, and ' thus runs the word
away.' — Who," — and he stopped, evidently embarrassed
at some passing thought — " Who shall say that the cere-
monial bestowed upon the wandering otter-killer may not
be refused to the last descendant of a line of centuries ! "

I would have interrupted these melancholy fore-
bodings, but just then, from the lofty brow of an inland
hill, which I had frequently observed before, a light
appeared, first faintly struggling, but presently redden-
ing to the sight ; and two fires in Achil, in a time of
incredible briefness, flung their deep glow across the
waters, and, as I afterwards remarked, were repeated
for miles along the coast and high grounds.

The rapidity with which the beal-fire was replied
to, evidently pleased my kinsman's family vanity ; and
with higher spirits, we watched the lights tremble in
the windows of the Lodge, until these stellce minores
directed our voyage to its termination.

The Colonel and his companion were waiting for us
on the pier ; they insisted on adding to our supper
some of the fish which we had brought home — and
while this was being done, my cousin and myself entered
the wake, to pay our last duties to the departed otter-
killer.

To give additional 6clat to his funeral rites, the corpse
had been removed to the barn, which, from its unusual
size, was well-fitted to admit the numerous mourners
who would attend the ceremony. Upon a rude bier
the old man rested, and the trap and fishing-rod were,
by a fancy of Hennessey, placed above his head. The
barn was filled, but immediate room was made for

DEATH OF THE OTTER-KILLER. 337

the master and his company. I have seen the corpse
when carefully arranged ; when the collapsing features
were artificially moulded, to imitate a tranquillity that
had been foreign to the last event. But here was a
study for a painter. The old man's face was puckered
into the same conscious smile with which I have heard
him terminate his happiest otter-hunt, or some mountain
exploit of my kinsman, which appeared to him equally
dear ; his long hair, released from the band with which
he usually confined it, wantoned in silvery ringlets across
his neck and shoulders : all else was in wonted form ;
only that the number of candles round the bier might
have been called extravagant, and the plate of snuff
upon the bosom of the corpse was heaped with a munifi-
cence that would stamp the obsequies as splendid.

Everybody has heard an Irish wake described, and there
is no dissimilarity among a hundred, only that, accord-
ing to the opulence of the family, and the quantity of
funeral refreshments, the mirth and jollity of the
mourners is invariably proportionate. That the master's
ancient retainers should be nobly waked was fully
expected by the country, and certainly they were not
disappointed. Whisky in quantities passing all under-
standing, tobacco in all its preparations, were fear-
fully consumed on this important ceremony ; and during
the two days and nights which the otter-killer was above
ground, the barn, spacious as it was, proved unequal
to accommodate the hundreds who flocked from a
distance of even twenty miles to have " a last look at
ould Antony." «

When the evening fell on which the corpse was to be
carried to its resting-place, a scene of great novelty and
great interest ensued. From the insulated situation

z

338 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

of the Lodge, in connection with the bury ing-ground,
it was necessary that the body should be carried across
the estuary by water. At the appointed hour, from
every creek and harbour, the peasantry were seen afloat,
and when the funeral left the house, more than a hundred
boats accompanied that in which the corpse was depo-
sited. My kinsman followed next to the body with all
his visitors and servants ; and when the opposite strand
was reached, he and his foster-brother placed their
shoulders under the coffin, and supported it for a short
distance along the beach.

This was, I was afterwards informed, the highest
honour that could be conferred upon the departed by
his master ; and even the magnificence of the otter-
killer's wake was held inferior to this proud and public
testimony of his patron's affections.

One circumstance was remarked which was power-
fully indicative of animal affection. The dead man's
terrier had remained night and day beside his bier,
since the morning of his death. Unnoticed, she crept
on board the boat that conveyed the coffin to the
churchyard ; and when the grave was filled, she was
with difficulty carried home by an attendant, but,
escaping during the night, crossed the estuary by swim-
ming, and again lay down upon the turf, beneath which
her beloved master was sleeping. Every care and
kindness was bestowed upon her in the Lodge. No
one addressed her but as " poor Venney" Notwith-
standing she drooped visibly, and in three weeks after
his iaterment, in death the otter-killer's favourite
" bore him company."

When we reached the Lodge, we made a discovery
which, possibly with some people, might lead to an

DEATH OF THE OTTER-KILLER. 339

opposite conclusion, and either prove the security or
insecurity of the country.

Not a living being had remained within the walls,
and, consequently, for several hours, the house and
household goods were abandoned to the mercy of
chance and chance travellers. The guardian saint,
however, acquitted herself like a gentlewoman. We
found everything in pious order ; and had the Lodge
been under the especial care of the glorious Santa
Barbara herself, watch and ward could not have been
more faithfully maintained.

WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXXVI

A MONTH had passed : winter comes on with giant
strides, and the last lingering recollections of autumn
are over The weather becomes more rainy and tem-
pestuous ; and bogs, which we once crossed easily,
owing to the continued wet, are now quite impass-
able. The swell, which during the summer months,
came in in long and measured undulations, breaks in
masses across the bar, and sends a broken and tumbling
sea inside the estuary, so as to render it unsafe to expose
any boat of heavy tonnage to its influence. Pattigo
seldom ventures from his anchorage, and when last he
ventured to pass a night at the pier, he ground away
a hawser against the stones, notwithstanding every pains
were bestowed in renewing its service. The springs
are usually high ; and two nights since, the Lodge and
paddocks were completely insulated and our commu-
nications with the mainland carried on by ferriage.
The river rises fearfully, and the hugh masses of turf
left along the strand, prove how violent the mountain
torrents must be at this advanced season. The sweet
and crystal stream is nowhere seen ; and Scott's
beautiful lines happily describe the turbid river that has
replaced it : —

" Late, gazing down the steepy linn
That hems our little garden in,
Low in its dark and narrow glen,
You scarce the rivulet might ken,
So thick the tangled greenwood erew,
So feebly trill 'd the streamlet through;
Now, murmuring hoarse, and frequent seen ;
Through bush and briar no longer green.
An angry brook it sweeps the glade,
Brawls over rock and wild cascade."

WINTER SHOOTING. 34!

But other, and no less certain, tokens harbinger the
wild season that has arrived. Yesterday a six-months'
puppy, who crept after me across the adjoining paddocks,
stopped in a rushy field. Suspecting that he had a
hare before him, I passed on to push her from the form :
I was mistaken — a wisp* of snipes, possibly thirty in
number, sprang, and scattering in all directions, pitched
loosely over the adjoining bogs. To-day I saw a flock
of barnacles ;f and the herdsman on the sand-banks
apprises us of the first appearance of a Crowour Keough.%
This is the earliest wood-cock announced, but my kins-
man has no doubt but the flight^ has fallen in Achil :
and we shall cross in a few days, if the weather answers,
and try Slieve More, he says, with excellent success.

I had been some hours in bed, when I was awakened
by a quarrelling among the dogs, which I overheard
the keeper settling with the whip. I remained, and it
is rather an unusual thing with me, a long time awake.
An hour passed, all was again in deep repose, and I, too,
was sinking into sleep, when a strange and unaccount-
able noise roused me. It seemed to be at first faint and
distant, but momently increasing, grew louder and more
distinct, until it passed, to all appearance, directly above
my head. The sounds were wild and musical — varied

* Wisp, in sporting parlance, means a flock of snipes.

t The barnacle is a waterfowl weighing about five pounds, and
measuring more than two feet in length.

J Why this title, literally meaning " the blind cock," should be
conferred by the peasantry of Ballycroy on a bird so remarkable for
the extraordinary quickness of his vision, is a paradox. Such is the
known acuteness of the woodcock's vision, that the cover -shooter
chooses a masked position, or the Crowour Keough would seldom
come within range of the gun.

§ Flight is the term used to describe a flock of woodcocks, as they
arrive in this country, in their annual migration from the north of
Europe.

342 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

in tone beyond anything 1 could describe, and con-
tinuing, until they gradually became remote and in-
distinct, and at length totally died away. I was amaz-
ingly puzzled, but was obliged to reserve my curiosity
to be satisfied in the morning.

My cousin smiled at my inquiry : — " And you heard
these strange noises as well as I ? This, if you remained
here, would be little marvel, as nightly the Barnacle
cross the Lodge in passing from one estuary to the other.
There they sit on yonder point ; " — and, taking me to the
window, I saw a considerable extent of sand literally
black with this migratory tribe : " they come here in
immense multitudes, but from their coarse and fishy
flavour, afford little occupation to the water-shooter."

The land barnacles are less numerous, although
they are found in tolerable abundance. During the
day I saw two flocks of one or two-hundred pairs, upon
the bogs. They are, when sufficiently rested from
their journey, sought for with great avidity by the few
gunners in this district, and are very delicious when
kept a sufficient time after being shot, before the cook
transfers them to the spit.

Gray plover must also migrate in thousands hither.
Nothing else could account for the immense flocks
that have been seen, and will continue, as I am informed,
to arrive. The shores and moors are everywhere
crowded with them ; and within a hundred yards of the
lodge, Hennessey, with two barrels, killed seven couple
and a half last evening. The bent-banks are their
favourite fixture ; and I have never crossed them of
late without finding at least one stand. These vary
in numbers ; but I am certain I have seen three hundred
of these birds thus congregated.

WINTER SHOOTING. 343

There is, in shooting plover, a common remark made
by sportsmen, that the second is always the more pro-
ductive barrel. The rapidity with which they vary
their position when on the ground, seldom admits of a
grand combination for a sitting, or rather a running,
shot. But when on the wing, their mode of flight is
most favourable for permitting the shot to tell ; and it
is by no means unusual to bring down a number. When
disturbed, they frequently wheel back directly above
the fowler, and offer a tempting mark if he should have
a barrel in reserve ; and even when too high for the shot
to take effect, I have often thrown away a random fire ;
for the plover, on hearing the report, directly make a
sweep downwards on the wing, and I have by this means
brought them within range of the second barrel.

When the season advances, the number of geese that
visit this wild peninsula is astonishing. For miles I
have traced their night feedings along a river bank,
where the marshy surface afforded them their favourite
sustenance. They are far more wary than the barnacle,
and are extremely difficult of access in moderate weather ;
but chance and storm occasionally favour the sportsman,
and in spite of the caution of these birds, the flock will
be surprised, and the patient gunner, reap, in a lucky
moment, the reward of many a weary vigil and bootless
attempt.

The time that wild geese feed in this country is by
night, and particularly during moonlight. I have
never known them either netted or decoyed; and all
the shooter has to rely upon is patience and a long barrel.
Of all the prizes that a wild-fowl shooter could wish to
meet with, a flock of teal is the very first. Indepen-
dently of their being by far the best birds of the whole

344 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

Anas tribe, they are so much easier of access, and require
such a slight blow that no matter whether you are
prepared for wildfowl, partridges, or snipes, you may,
at most times, with very little trouble, contrive to get
near them ; and this being once done, you have only
to shoot straight to be pretty sure of killing.

I have seen teal " duck the flash," though never but
once, and then I had rather a slow-shooting gun.

The last and greatest of the wild visitors, are the
swan tribe. Their being scarce or plentiful depends
much upon the season — and in winters of extreme
severity thousands of these birds will be found upon the
estuaries and inland lakes. The noise they make is
wild and musical, and with a little fancy, my kinsman
says, the ear will trace modulations almost extending to
infinity. These birds, during severe frosts and snow-
storms, are easily surprised and shot ; and the skins,
when carefully stripped off, will well repay the shooter
for his trouble.

To enumerate the varieties of the duck tribe that an
inclement winter brings to these shores, would be
difficult. I have already noticed the Pintail, and the
Golden-eye upon the estuary. Widgeons come here in
immense flocks ; and that beautiful bird, the teal, the
smallest and most delicate of the whole species, is
found for the remainder of the season on loughs and
rivers in abundance. The Grebe and Tringa tribes
furnish numerous and interesting varieties ; and an
ornithologist, as well as a sportsman, would have here
an ample field, could he but set the season at defiance,
and pass his winter on this exposed and stormy coast.

But the note of dissolution of our happy party has
sounded. The Colonel, having divers premonitory

WINTER SHOOTING. 345

twinges, has named an early day for his departure.
To be caught by the gout here would be a hazardous
experiment ; and the portmanteau, whose captivity
was likely to occasion such desperate results, is again
packed and confided to Andy Baivn. But the com-
mander's baggage is not to be exposed to a second
interruption. The attempt was fatal to Mr. Burke ;
for, emboldened by the feud, which his unadvised
aggression created between my kinsman and this modern
Cacus, the Sweenies* seized the opportunity, and the
outlaw was arrested in a whisky-house, tried, and escaped
by a miracle from being hanged, — but was, alas ! con-
signed to Australasia for the course of his natural life.
To do Mr. Burke justice, he left his native soil with
regret. Finding all chance of commuted punishment
over, he endeavoured to obtain his liberty by an ingenious
plan to strangle the turnkeys, and emancipate all and
every victim of judicial tyranny who pleased to accept
his freedom. He did, poor man, make an excellent
offer to choke a jailer — but fortune frowned upon the
attempt ; the half-throttled janitor was saved — and the
hero of the bridge of Bally veeney will cross the equator
at the the public expense.

To-morrow, wind and weather permitting, the com-
mander takes his departure, and to-night will conse-
quently be a high and solemn festival. Would it were
over ' f cannot, dare not, offer an excuse for cavilling
at bumpers, even were they " fathoms deep ; " and all
the consolation that an aching head will claim to-morrow,
will be a saw from old John about " the dog that bit me,"

* This numerous clan derive their origin from a Northman.
They are, I know not with what justice, reckoned a treacherous
and vindictive tribe, and a feud with them is consequently held to
be a dangerous affair.

346 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

and the merciless badinage of that black-eyed coquette
who embodies all that Moore idealized in sketching
his Nora Crina.

How soft the evening twilight falls on the waters of
the estuary ! the tide kisses the very verge of the
greensward, and looks so treacherously calm, as if its
storms were for ever ended. Boat after boat hurries
down the inlet to shoot their herring-nets for the night ;
and many an ancient ditty, or ruder tale, will while
away the time till morning. Occasionally a struggle
between two rival barks ensues — and I remark, the
contest invariably takes place before the windows of
the Lodge. One very singular one amused me much.
A boat rowed by four women challenged, and actually
out-pulled another, though propelled by a similar number
of the coarser sex.

Indeed, the occupations of the ladies of Ballycroy
are not essentially feminine : the roughest and most
dangerous employments they share in common with the
men. A Mahratta woman, they told me in India,
regularly shampoos her husband's horse. Were I of the
fair sex, I would rather operate on a quadruped than row
a fishing-boat by the day, and cut sea-weed up to the
waist in water, with the expectation of being swept from
my precarious tooting by the first mountainous surge.

COCK-SHOOTING IN ACHIL. 347

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THE Colonel has left us, and we lose in him the best
and safest of friends — a true buon camarado. With
spirits of youthful buoyancy, a temper unsoured by time,
and indifferent to worldly annoyances, years have only
mellowed his companionable qualities, while they added
deeply to his anecdote and information. Few men of
a certain age succeed in retaining their places as first
favourites with others some quarter of a century their
juniors : but the Colonel is an exception • we shall feel a
blank in our society : and in this gay and careless spirit
lose a dear companion, who seemed to put time at
defiance, and forbade gout itself to interrupt his comfort,
or " mar his tranquillity "

The last two days have been dry, the wind is favourable,
a white frost has been visible this morning, and we are
about to pay our parting visit to Achil. We have again
sent to our ancient entertainers, the Water Guards, to
beg a shelter tor the night ; for the days have so sensibly
shortened, that we shall have enough to do to reach
Dugurth at nightfall.

" Merrily, merrily bounds the bark," and an hour
landed us at the Ridge Point. Our establishment is
t n a minor scale to what we sported on our first descent ;
we have only some two or three hangers-on, and have
brought but two brace of orderly and antiquated setters.

I have seen much of snipe-shooting in many parts of
Ireland, but I could not have imagined that the number
of these exquisite birds could be found within the same
space, that one particular marsh which bounds the rabbit-

348 WtLD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

banks produced Independently of a quantity of
detached birds, several wsp* sprang wildly, as they
always do ; and 1 have no doubt that this fen had been
their temporary resting-place after their autumnal
migration from the north. We were the more inclined
to this opinion from finding many of the birds we killed
extremely lean ; while others, that sprang singly, were
in admirable condition. Achil is a natural resting-
place for migratory birds : and hence 1 can well believe
the accounts given by the islanders, of the immense
numbers of woodcocks and snipes which are here found,
in their transit from a high latitude to our more genial
climate. The same remark is made touching the vernal
visit of these strangers to this island. After woodcocks
have for days vanished from the inland covers, they have
been found in flocks on the Achil and Erris highlands,
evidently congregating for their passage, and preparing
for the attempt.

It may be easily conceived, that whether the winter
stock of snipes and woodcocks be limited or abundant,
will mainly depend upon the state of the winds and
weather at the period of migration. Hence, when the
latter end of October and the succeeding month have
continued stormy, with south, or south-easterly gales,
a lamentable deficiency of game has been invariably
observed. That multitudes perish on their passage,
or are obliged to change their course, is certain — and
the exhausted state in which the small portion of the
survivors reach these shores, attests how difficult the
task must be to effect a landing, when opposed by con-
trary winds and stormy weather.

The common residence of the snipe is in small bogs,
or wet grounds, where it is almost constantly digging

COCK-SHOOTING IN ACHIL. 349

and nibbling in the soft mud, in search of his food,
which consists chiefly of a very small kind of red trans-
parent worm, about an-half inch long ; it is said also
to eat slugs, and the insects and grubs of various kinds,
which breed in great abundance in those slimy stagnant
places. In these retreats, when undisturbed, the snipe
walks leisurely with its head erect, and at short intervals
keeps moving the tail. But in this state of tranquillity
it is very rarely to be seen, as it is extremely watchful,
and perceives the sportsman or his dog at a great distance,
and instantly conceals itself among the variegated
withered herbage so similar in appearance to its own
plumage, that it is almost impossible to discover it while
squatted motionless in its seat : it seldom, however,
waits the near approach of any person, particularly in
open weather, but commonly springs and takes flight
at a distance beyond the reach of the gun. When first
disturbed, it utters a kind of feeble whistle, and gently
flies against the wind, turning nimbly in a zigzag direction
for two or three hundred paces, and sometimes soaring
almost out of sight . its note is then something like the
bleating of a goat, but is changed to a singular humming
or drumming noise, uttered in its descent.

From its vigilance and manner of flying, it is one ot
the most difficult birds to shoot. Some sportsmen can
imitate their cries, and by that means draw them within
reach of their shot ; others, of a less honourable descrip-
tion, prefer the more certain and less laborious method
of catching them in the night by a springe, like that which
is used for the wood cock.

The snipe is migratory, and is met with in all countries ;
like the woodcock, it shuns the extremes of heat and cold
by keeping upon the bleak moors in summer, and seeking

350 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST

the shelter of the valleys in winter. In severe frosts
and storms of snow, driven by extremity of the weather,
snipes seek the unfrozen boggy places, runners from
springs, or any open streamlet of water, and they are sure
to be found, often in considerable numbers in these
places, where they sometimes sit till nearly trodden
upon before they will take their flight.

Although it is well-known that numbers of snipes
leave Great Britain in the spring, and return in the
autumn, yet it is equally well ascertained that many
constantly remain, and breeds in various parts of the
country, for their nests and young ones have been so
often found as to leave no doubt of this fact. The female
makes her nest in the most retired and inaccessible
parts of the morass, generally upon the stump of an
alder or willow ; it is composed of withered grass and
a few feathers ; her eggs, four or five in number, are of
an oblong shape, and of a greenish colour, with rusty
spots ; the young ones run off soon after they are freed
from the shell, but they are attended by the parent birds
until their bills have acquired a sufficient firmness to
enable them to provide for themselves.

The snipe is a very fat bird, but its fat does not cloy,
and very rarely disagrees even with the weakest stomach.
It is much esteemed as a delicious and well-flavoured
dish, and is cooked in the same manner as the woodcock.

Snipes, when plenty, afford very excellent sport, it
being allowed to be the pleasantest, on account of the
quick succession of shots ; this is also the best shooting
for practice, seldom failing to make indifferent shots
most excellent ones. There is no shooting that presents
such a variety of shots, scarcely any two being alike.
These birds usually fly against the wind, therefore

COCK-SHOOTING IN ACHIL. 351

every snipe-shooter should walk down it, as by that
means the bird, if he rises before him, will fly back,
and coming round him, describe a kind of circle, or at
least his flight, for a certain distance, will not lengthen
the shot, allowing him a certain time to cover the bird,
and take good aim ; for if he gets up before him, and
should by chance go down the wind or from him, it is
then the most difficult shot. It will be proper, in this
case to let the bird get a little distance from him, as then
he will fly steadier, and the slightest grain will fetch him
to the ground.

We crossed the bent- banks, occasionally knocking a
rabbit over as we went along, and wheeled to the west-
ward to skirt the base of SHeve More. We had not
proceeded far, before an islander, who was herding
cows, told us that there was a crowour keough beg* in the
next ravine. We accordingly put a setter in, and were
gratified with a steady point in the place the herdsman
had intimated. The bird sprang, and was knocked
over by my companion, when the little woodcock proved
to be a double snipe. These birds are extremely scarce
here, and a few couple only are seen during a whole
season by persons most conversant in traversing the
bogs. There cannot be a doubt but this bird is a distinct
species ; but for its extreme rarity and solitary habits,
naturalists are puzzled to account.

We shot, before we began to ascend the hill, a couple
of woodcocks lying out upon the moors. They were
very shy, never allowing the dogs to come to a set.
This is usually the case when these birds are outlying ;
and I have followed a cock for miles before I got him
within fire, teased by his getting up before I could
*A little woodcock.

352 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

approach, and removing some hundred yards from the
gun. Some favourable inequality of surface has at last
enabled me to close with my wild quarry, and, not-
withstanding the keenness of his eye, got the wary
stranger eventually within range of shot.

There grows in the valleys and water-courses which
are so frequent in the Achil and Ballycroy hills, that
large and shrub-like heather that reaches nearly to the
height of brushwood. Here, in the earlier season,
the woodcocks repose after their passage, and at times
the numbers found in these ravines are stated to be
extraordinary. With the first frost or snow they move
off to the interior, dropping as they go along in the
different covers, until a part of the flight reaches the very
centre of the kingdom. We met, during our day's fag,
about fifteen couple, out of which eight and a half were
brought to bag. To these we added three brace and a
half of grouse, and a brace of hares. When with these
were united snipes, plovers and rabbits, it is not too much
to say that our bags were most imposing, and produced
above fifty head of game. From our kind friends,
the Water Guards, we received a hospitable reception ;
and next morning were run across the bay in their galley,
and landed safely upon our own shores.

The cock-shooting, to use my cousin's words, in the
west of Ireland is acknowledged to be very superior ;
and when the flight has been large, and the season is
sufficiently severe to drive the birds well to cover, there
is not, to a quick eye, more beautiful shooting in the
world. Some of the covers are copses of natural wood,
situated in the very centre of the mountains. Conse-
quently, when the snow falls, every woodcock for miles
around deserts the heath and seeks the nearest shelter.

COCK-SHOOTING IN ACHIL. 353

Then will the sportsman be amply repaid for all his
labour. From a copse of not more than thirty acres
extent, I have seen fifty couple of woodcocks flushed ;
and, as several excellent covers lay in the immediate
vicinity, it was no unusual thing for two or three guns
to bring home twenty, nay, thirty, couple. I have known
a party fire a number of shots that appeared incredible ;
and I have more than once expended my last charge of
powder, and left, for want of ammunition, one or more
copses untried.

The best cock-shooting cannot be had without a good
deal of fag. Like fox-hunting, it is work for hardy
spirits ; and non sine pulvere palma will apply to both.
To reach a mountain cover, the sportsman must be on
the alert two or three hours before daylight, for he has
likely some ten Irish miles to ride or drive over, by a
rough and dangerous road, now rendered scarcely
discernible from the adjacent bogs, and hardly passable
from the snowdrifts. The short day is hardly sufficient
for shooting the different woods ; and then the same
distance must be again traversed, for which the shooter
will be a borrower from the night. Then he must
reckon on divers delays and sundry accidents ; horses
will come down, dog-carts capsize, a trace break, or a
spring fail ; and what has annoyed me more than all
together, probably a fog rise so suddenly and densely,
as to render the road undistinguishable from the sur-
rounding heaths. But when all this is achieved, — when
a cover-party have fairly encircled the table, after the
luxury of a complete toilet, — when the fire sparkles,
the curtains are drawn, and the wine circulates, — why
then, without let the storm blow till it bursts its cheeks —
and within, Father Care may hang himself in his own
garters.

I A

354 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

There are other perils, also, to which the cover-
shooter is obnoxious. The eye is sometimes endangered
by pressing unguardedly through the copse wood ;
and I knew one case where the sight was totally lost from a
twig springing from a person who was struggling through
the underwood and striking the next who followed.
The legs also are frequently and severely wounded
by the sharp stumps which remain after a thicket has
been thinned. But from random shots the chief danger
arises ; and to prevent accidents occurring, a party, and
particularly if it be numerous, should be guarded in
selecting their stands and altering their positions. I
have been struck a dozen times, but never with any
worse effect than receiving a shot or two in my cheek
and ear ; but many a time I have felt a shower rattle
against my fustian jacket, which, however, endured it
bravely, as a garment of proof should do.

Some men, from carelessness or stupidity, are really a
nuisance to a cover-party ; and to others, one would almost
ascribe a fatality, and avoid them like an evil genius.
In the former case, I have found, after remonstrance
failed, and they continued throwing their shot liberally
around, without apparently caring one farthing upon
whose person it alighted, the best cure was instantly to
turn a barrel as nearly in the direction of the report
as possible. A well-distributed charge rattling through
the brush wood, and falling upon the delinquent, gave,
practically, a hint that made him more cautious for
the future, and proved more effective than the most
powerful jobation. Of the latter class — I mean unlucky

companions, I shall particularise one. Captain M

shot with me an entire season. He was a pretty shot,
and an excellent fellow ; but I never entered a cover with

COCK-SHOOTING IN ACHIL. 355

him that I was not certain to be struck before we returned
home. Every precaution to evade his shot was useless.
If in a copse of a mile long there was a solitary opening
to admit its passage, he was opposite it to a certainty ;
and my first intimation that such an alley did exist,
would be a fall of withered leaves from the bushes
above, and most likely a few grains lodging in my hat
or jacket. If I moved to avoid a chance of accident,
something induced him to make a corresponding change ;
and at last I became so nervous that I obliged him
momently to call out, that I might ascertain our relative
positions, and guard, if possible, against injury.

We once, during a severe frost, shot the beautiful
islands in the lake of Castlebar, which belong to the
Marquis of Sligo. There were an immense number of
cocks in cover, and we had been particularly successful ;
but the wonder was, I had that day escaped unwounded,
and my prayer to " keep lead out of me " had been
heard. On our return, my friend was pluming himself
on this result. " It was foolish," he said, " to reckon
him unlucky. To be sure, some shots of his had been
unfortunate, but such would ever be the case." We had
now left off shooting, and were within a few fields of the
barracks, when a jack snipe sprang from a drain on the
road side, and flying to the top of the field, pitched in
the upper ditch. I followed it merely to discharge my
barrels — it sprang, and the report of my gun disturbed
a hare in the bottom of the field ; she moved, and my
companion instantly discharged both barrels. From
the hardness of the surface, the shot rose ; a shower fell
upon the protected parts of my person, while two struck
me on the lip, and cut me deeply. I was more than
one hundred yards from him, yet from the hard frost, the

356 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

ricochet of the shot came as sharply upon me as if I had
been within point-blank distance. After that incident,
need I add ? much as I loved him, 1 never pulled a
trigger in his company again.

MEMOIR OF HENNESSEY. 357

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

WE sat down to dinner tSte-d-tete, and although
both myself and my kinsman made an exertion to banish
unpleasant reminiscences, the evening was the most
sombre that I had yet passed. The happy party who
once tenanted our " merrie home " are never to meet
again. The otter-killer " sleeps the sleep that knows
no breaking " — the Colonel has retired to his winter
quarters — the Priest's confessions call him from us
for a season — and some secret intelligence which reached
the Lodge over night has caused Hennessey to disappear.

To gratify a strong expression of curiosity on my
part respecting the latter, my cousin told me the following
particulars of this singular personage : —

" If ever man came into the world with the organ of
destructiveness surcharged, it was my unhappy foster-
brother. He was a lively and daring boy, and being
a favourite with my late father, had opportunities of
improvement afforded to him, which persons in his
sphere seldom can obtain. But Hennessey showed
little inclination for literary pursuits, the gun was more
adapted to him than the pen — and at fifteen, when but
a very indifferent scribe, he was admitted by the whole
population to be the best shot of his years that ' ever
laid stock to shoulder.' Encouraged by my father's
partiality, from this period he led an idle, careless life,
and rambled over the country, breaking dogs, or amusing
himself with the gun and fishing-rod.

" I was at the college when the first of his misfor-
tunes occurred. He had imprudently ventured into

358 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

a dancing-house, where a number of the Sweenies were
assembled, with whom he had previously been at feud,
and, as might have been anticipated, a quarrel quickly
arose. Hennessey, too late, perceived his danger ;
but, with that daring determination for which he has ever
been remarkable, when the assault began, he made a
sudden dash for the door, and overturning all that opposed
him, succeeded in escaping. He was, however, closely
pursued. From his uncommon activity, he far out-
stripped all but one of his enemies. He had nearly
reached the river — but his enemy was close behind.
Intending to disable his pursuer, Hennessey picked up
a stone, and, unfortunately, threw it with such fatal
precision, that the skull of his opponent was beaten in,
and he expired on the spot.

" Well, this was an unfortunate affair, but it was
homicide in self-defence. My father accommodated
matters with the Sweenies, and my foster-brother was
discharged without a prosecution.

" A year passed, but the Sweenies had not forgotten
or forgiven the death of their kinsman. Hennessey's
rambling habits exposed him to frequent encounters
with this clan : and one night, when returning late
from the fair of Newport, with two or three companions,
he came into unexpected collision with a party of his
ancient enemies. A scuffle ensued — in the struggle
he wrested a loaded whip from his antagonist, and
struck the unhappy wretch so heavily with his own
weapon, that after lingering nearly a month, he died
from the contusion.

" This second mishap occasioned us a deal of trouble ;
but Hennessey surrendered, was tried, and acquitted,
and we all trusted that his misfortunes were at an end.

MEMOIR OF HENNESSEY. 359

He abjured the use of spirits, avoided late hours, and
such meetings as might expose him to any collision
with that clan who had been so unfortunate, and reli-
giously determined to avoid every cause of quarrelling ;
but fate determined that it should be otherwise.

" Having been invited to a dragging home, as the
bridegroom was his near relative, Hennessey could not,
without giving offence, decline attending on the happy
occasion. He was then a remarkably handsome fellow
— and you would vainly now seek in those gaunt and
careworn features the manly beauty which then caused
many a rustic heart to beat. The bride's cousin accom-
panied her ; she was remarkably pretty, and was,
besides, reported to be the largest heiress in the barony.
With such advantages, no wonder ' of lovers she'd
plenty,' as the ballad says : — my foster-brother met her,
danced with her, drank with her — loved her, and was
beloved in turn. Every rival was double-distanced ;
but she was, unfortunately, betrothed by her father
to a wealthy Keartie ;* and although I, in person,
interposed, and used my powerful influence, the old
fellow, her father, was obstinate in refusing to break off
the match.

" Hennessey was no man to see his handsome mistress
consigned without her own consent to the arms of a
rival. He made the usual arrangements, and I
encouraged him to carry her off. The evening came — he
left the Lodge in a boat, with six fine young peasants ;
and crossing the bay, landed by moonlight at a little
distance from the village where his inamorata dwelt.

" That very night a multitude of the Malleys had
accompanied the accepted suitor to conclude all
* Anglice, a rich, vulgar clown.

360 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

necessary preliminaries. The cabin of the heiress was
crowded, and all within was noisy revelry. Hennessey,
with one companion, stole to the back of the house.

" He knew the chamber of the bride elect, for he had
more than once ' when all the world were dreaming,'
visited his pretty mistress. He looked through the
little casement, and, sight of horror ! there she was,
seated on the side of the bed, and the Kearne's arm
around her waist, with all the familiarity of a privileged
lover ! There, too, was the priest of Inniskea, and
divers elders of ' both the houses ' — while the remainder
of the company, for whose accommodation this grand
chamber was insufficient, were indulging in the kitchen
or dancing in the barn.

" Since the days of Lochinvar, there never was a
more daring suitor than my foster-brother ; yet he did
not consider it a prudent measure to enter the state
apartment ' 'mong bridesmen, and kinsmen, and clans-
men, and all,' — but waited patiently at the window
to see what some lucky chance might do. Nor did he
wait in vain. Kathleein turned her pretty eyes on
the moonlit casement, and thought, poor girl ! how
often her young lover had stolen there in secret, and told
his tale of passion. A tap, too light for any but the ear
of love to detect, arrested her attention, and she saw the
indistinct form of a human face outside ; and whose
could it be but her favoured youth ? Seizing an early
opportunity, she stole from the apartment ; she soon
was in her lover's arms ; a few words, and a few kisses,
— and all was settled : — and while the Kearne, the
Priest, and the father were regulating the exact quan-
tities of cattle and plenishing* that were to dower the

* Plenishing means household furniture, beds, blankets, etc.

MEMOIR OF HENNESSEY. 361

handsome bride, Kathleein was hurrying to the shore
with her young and daring suitor.

" An attempt so boldly and so fortunately begun, was,
however, doomed to end unhappily. One of the
Malleys had discovered the interview, and witnessed the
elopement. Having silently observed the route of the
fugitives, he apprised the parties within, that their
negotiations were likely to become nugatory, and a
fierce and vindictive pursuit was instantly commenced.
The distance, however, to the beach was short : the
companion of the bold abductor had run forward ; the
bride was won — the boat was launched — the oars were
dipping in the water — when, alas ! the rush of rapid
footsteps were heard, and oaths and threats announced
that the fugitives were closely followed. Two or three
of the Malleys had far outstripped the rest ; but a
minute more, and pursuit would have been hopeless.
One man had passed the others far, and on the brink
of the tide he caught the fair runaway in his arms,
while the companions of the gallant were actually
pulling her on board. The chase was hard at hand —
twenty feet were heard rushing over the loose shingle
— not a moment was to be lost, or the bride was gone for
ever. Like lightning Hennessey caught up a stretcher
from the bottom of the boat, discharged one murderous
blow upon the man who held back his beloved mistress,
a deep-drawn moan was heard, and the unhappy Kearne,
for it was himself, sank upon the beach without life or
motion ! Off went the boat — off went the lady — and
the athletic crew pulled through the sparkling water,
little dreaming that their exulting leader was for
the third time a homicide ! I cannot tell you what
I suffered next morning, when the tragical result

362 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

of an attempt I had myself encouraged was told me.
My first care was to look to the safety of my foster-
brother and his bride ; and until pursuit was over,
I had them conveyed by Pattigo in the hooker to Innis-
boffin. There they remained in safe concealment, and for
six months it was not deemed prudent to permit them
to return, as the clan of the deceased were numerous
and vindictive.

" Time flew. They came back, and for some time
remained here unmolested. Kathleein was near her
confinement, when one day we received information
that the Malleys had procured a warrant with a civil
force to execute it, and were determined at every hazard
to arrest my foster-brother. I, a magistrate myself,
could not openly protect him ; and that evening he
left the Lodge at night-fall, to shelter himself in the
island of Innisbiggle until the threatened danger passed.
Kathleein, unfortunately, accompanied him ; although
we told her that there was but one poor family on the
place, and its difficulty of approach, while favourable
to the concealment of her husband, was unsuited to any
female situated like her.

" On landing on the island, the solitary family, who
generally resided in the single cabin it contained, were
absent at the fair of Westport. Hennessey and his wile
took possession of the hut, lighted a fire, and made
themselves as comfortable as the wretched hovel would
admit. Even then he urged her to return to the Lodge,
but to leave him in perfect solitude on this desolate place
was more than she could determine. Night came, and
the weather, which had been squally all day, became worse
momently, and at midnight blew a gale. The outlaw
and his wife were now shut out from all the world,

MEMOIR OF HENNESSEY. 363

for a raging sea was roaring round the island, and all
communication with the mainland was interrupted.
Whether fear precipitated the dreaded event I know not ;
but in the middle of the night, while the elemental war
was in its fury, symptoms of approaching travail were
perceived by poor Kathleein, and the unhappy girl
became more and more sensible of the terrible danger
that was coming on. What was to be done ? It
wanted some hours of morning, and even were it light,
until the tide fell, no mortal could cross that stormy
water.

" Poor wretch ! with a withered heart, all that he
could do to cheer his sinking companion was done ;
but every hour she became worse, and every moment her
pain and danger were increasing. Driven to madness,
at the first dawn of morning he rushed madly to the
beach, and though the retiring tide rushed between the
island and the mainland with furious violence, he
plunged into the boiling eddies, and with great strength
and desperate courage made good his passage to the
opposite shore.

" To obtain help was, of course, attended with delay ;
at last, however, it was accomplished, and the tide fell
sufficiently to permit some females to cross the farset*
He, the unhappy husband, far outstripped them : like
a deer he bounded over the beach that interposed between
the cabin and the sands — he reached it — a groan of
exquisite agony was heard from within — next moment he
was stooping over his exhausted wife, a dead infant was
pressed wildly to her bosom : she turned a dying look
of love upon his face, and was a corpse within the arms
of the ill-starred homicide !

* The stand communicating at low water between an island and
the main.

364 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

" When the tidings of the melancholy fate of poor
Kathleein were carried to the Lodge, I got the hooker
under weigh and stood over to the island. My unhappy
foster-brother appeared paralysed with sorrow, and
incapable of any exertion. We brought him, with the
bodies of the young mother and the dead babe, to the
house ; and the latter were, in due season, interred
with every mark of sympathy and respect.

" For a time I dreaded that the unfortunate homicide
would have sunk into hopeless idiocy ; but he suddenly
appeared to rouse his torpid faculties ; he became
gloomy and morose — and, deaf to all my remonstrances,
to the least of which formerly he would have paid the
most marked regard, he wandered over the country
and seemed to court an arrest, or rather an attempt
at it ; for, from his desperation, I am inclined to think
he would have done some new deed of blood had his
enemies ventured to assail him. All I could do to pre-
vent mischief I did. I had the bullets drawn from his
fire-arms when he slept ; I kept him under constant
espionage, and retained him as much about my person
as I could possibly contrive. Whether none would
grapple with a desperate and well-armed man, or that
some feeling for his sufferings softened the rancour
of his enemies for a time, I know not, but he passed
unmolested through the country ; and the most daring
of the Sweenies and Malleys left the road when they
accidentally met my unhappy foster-brother. Time
has gradually softened his distress, and the asperity
of his temper has subsided ; he has lost the fierce and
savage look that lately no stranger could meet without
being terror-stricken ; and I shall endeavour to get the
death of his miserable rival, which decidedly was un-

MEMOIR OF HENNESSEY. 365

premeditated and accidental, accommodated. Some intel-
ligence has made it advisable for Hennessey to leave the
Lodge, although I hardly think any of his enemies
would dare to seek him here ; but still, we cannot be too
cautious, and to be placed in the power of his former
foeman at this moment, would be to involve his life
in imminent peril.

" His misfortunes have given me more distress than
anything that has ever befallen myself personally.
His attachment to me is so devoted, that I cannot but
have brotherly feelings for this ill-starred fosterer.
Although he would follow me to the corners of the earth,
if I required, he would rather risk a trial than leave the
country, which I have often and earnestly entreated him
to do."

I offered here to take Hennessey under my protection
to England, but my kinsman shook his head.

" It is a kind intention, Frank, but he would not
leave me. I am the last link that binds him to the world,
and while life lasts, we must run our wild career in the
same couples. Poor Hennessey ! there are worse men
than he, although misfortune has made him thrice a
homicide."

It was late : John brought oysters at the customary
hour, and soon after we separated for the night.

366 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE day of my departure from this wild retreat,
where so many months have happily passed over, is
determined : indeed, the season hardly admits a longer
sojourn, and circumstances beyond my control require
an immediate return to England. My kinsman has
made arrangements for passing the genial season of
Christmas, and the remainder of the winter, with his
relations in the interior ; and in the morning fox-hunt
and evening dance, the dullest months of gloomy winter
will merrily disappear.

For me, were I not encumbered with a fortune, and
" all the ills that flesh is heir to " when one is afflicted
with independence, this place would suit me admirably.
Though these shores be wild, and weather savage, yet
every day brings its novelty along with it. The winter
fisheries on the coast are magnificent ; and birds, known
only to a naturalist elsewhere, are daily presented during
the stormy season to the active and intelligent shooter.
That wild being, Hennessey, has preserved an infinity of
curious specimens ; and many a rare production that the
ornithologist would prize, is here shot, and disregarded
by the peasant who is so fortunate as to possess a gun.

Among the natural advantages which this remote
coast possesses, the ocean contributes largely to the
stock, and even the tempest does not rage in vain. The
prevailing westerly winds drive many a serviceable
waif to the shore ; and seldom a winter passes, but some
valuable wreck or derelict property adds to my kinsman's
limited resources. True, these " angel visits " are

DEPARTURE FROM CONNAUGHT. 367

irregular, and come in questionable shape ; but still,
be they in form of butter or rum, train-oil or mahogany,
they answer " for the nonce," and even a dead body
has not been profitless to the finder.

I possibly have thus digressed from having witnessed
the triumphant arrival of a huge beam of Dantzic oak
and a ship's topmast, which certain retainers of my
gentle cousin have towed in. It appears that these
" spolia opima " were discovered early in the morning
about the centre of the bay, and a boat from both shores
approached them nearly at the same time. Both, like
true vassals, claimed on behalf of the respective master ;
and it being impossible, on what an Irishman would
very naturally term " debateable land," to settle the
question of property, the respective crews fought the
thing fairly out, and my kinsman's representatives,
being men of thews and sinews, after breaking two heads,
and chucking one gentleman of " the Capulets " over-
board, brought the godsends safely hither. Law there
will be, of course. The rival claimant was formerly an
attorney, who managed to spoliate an unhappy fool
who was litigiously inclined, and, of course, became
owner of the property. He who thus gets them will be
most tenacious of ill-acquired rights ; and this log and
spar will most likely terminate in being made a droit
of the Admiralty.

We started on our last chasse — and the ultima dies of our
sporting wanderings has come. The shortened days
and wet moors have made us desert grouse-shooting,
and we crossed the estuary to shoot a fen some three
miles off, which at this season is thickly tenanted with
snipes and waterfowl.

The day was particularly favourable ; dark and quiet,

368 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

with a gentle breeze. As we had to traverse a hill
which bounds the tillage-grounds of several of the
opposite villages, we brought the greyhounds with us,
to get a run or two while passing this otherwise unpro-
fitable beat. For my own part I had early given up
coursing in disgust. The hares were not plenty —
difficult to find — and when we did get them a-foot, they
either made for the sea-shore, or ran into some morass,
where dogs had no chance whatever, and one became
weary of seeing them cut themselves on rocks, or flounder
in a bog ; and latterly I gave up the business as a bad
concern. But on this occasion I was agreeably disap-
pointed. The hill afforded a sound and level surface ;
from its contiguity to the cornfields, the hares were
tolerably numerous, and before we reached the shooting-
ground, we had had six excellent courses, and killed
four hares.

I never observed a more striking contrast in point
of size than these hares exhibited. Two of them were
of the smallest mountain class ; dark-coloured, meagre
animals, who certainly made matchless running while
they lasted. The others were of the fullest size, and
in point of good condition, though neither so large nor
so white as Byron's, would have done honour to any
hare-park in Great Britain.

The fen we sought was situate in a valley between
two gentle slopes, and formed by a deep and sluggish
stream which passed through its centre, extended for
about four miles, varying its breadth from a few yards
to more than a quarter of a mile. The morass was
interspersed with shrubs and underwood, and alders of
inconsiderable size were occasionally clumped along
the borders. Part of the surface was too unsound to

DEPARTURE FROM CONNAUGHT. 369

admit its being traversed by the lightest foot, but generally
it was broken into tammocks, which a bold and prac-
tised shooter might pass with little difficulty. We
took opposite sides, and consequently few birds sprang
without affording one or the other of the guns a fair
shot. The number of snipes that flushed in this fen
went far beyond my expectation, though considerably
excited ; and, besides, we met at least fifteen couple
of that sweet little duck, the Teal. We followed the
morass to its extremity, and then returned — and our
beat homewards was pleasanter, and, so far as the game-
bags went, more profitable than the first range.

Out of seventy head, we reckoned one woodcock and
a brace of old stagers that we found among the heathy
banks bordering the fen. We shot six couple of teal ;
and, with one exception, the remainder of the count
were snipes, of which at least a fourth were jacks. In
the most impassable section of the morass, old York
pointed with more than customary steadiness ; and,
" it might be fancy," actually looked round with peculiar
expression, as if he would intimate that no common
customer was before him ! I got within twenty yards
and encouraged the old setter to go in ; but he turned
his grizzled and intelligent eyes to mine, and wagged
his tail as if he would have said, " Lord ! you don't
know what I have here." A tuft of earth flung by
one of the aides-de-camp, obliged the skulker to get up,
and to our general surprise a fine bittern arose. I
knocked him over, but though he came down with a
broken wing and wounded leg, he kept the old dog at
bay until my companion floundered through the swamp
and secured him. On this exploit I plumed myself,
for bitterns are here extremely scarce, and in Ballycroy
they are seldom heard or found.

370 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

On our return home we passed the old castle of Doona,
once supposed to have been honoured by the residence of
Mrs. Grace O'Malley, who, if fame tells truth, was
neither a rigid moralist nor over-particular in her ideas
of " meum and tuum." Some wild traditions ?re
handed down of her exploits ; and her celebrated
visit to that English vixen, Elizabeth, is fairly on record.
The castle of Doona was, till a few years since, in excel-
lent preservation, and its masonry was likely to have
puzzled Father Time himself ; but Irish ingenuity
achieved in a few hours what as many centuries had
hitherto failed in effecting.

A rich and hospitable farmer,* whose name will be
long remembered in this remote spot, had erected a
comfortable dwelling immediately adjoining the court-
yard wall of the ancient fortress ; and against the tower
itself was piled in wealthy profusion a huge supply of
winter fuel. It was a night of high solemnity, for his
first-born son was christened. No wonder then that
all within the house were drunk as lords. Turf was
wanted, and one of the boys was despatched for a cleave-
ful — but though Patt could clear a fair, and " bear as
much beating as a bull," he was no man to venture
into the old tower in the dark, " and it haunted."
Accordingly, to have fair play, " if the ghost gripped
him," he provided himself with a brand of burning
bog-deal. No goblin assailed him, and he filled his
basket and returned unharmed to the company, but,
unfortunately forgot the light behind him. The result
may be anticipated. The turf caught fire, and from the
intense heat of such a mass of fuel, the castle walls were
rent from top to bottom, and one side fell before morning
* John Conway.

DEPARTURE FROM CONN AUGHT. 37!

with a crash like thunder. Nor was the calamity con-
fined to fallen tower and lost fuel. Alas ! several kegs
and ankers of contraband spirits were buried beneath
the walls, and the huge masses of masonry that came
down burst the concealed casks of Cognac and Schiedam.

We found the warrener netting rabbits in the sand
banks. They were intended for sale in the interior,
and many dozens were already taken. Formerly the
skins were valuable, and a well-stocked burrow was a
valuable appendage to a country gentleman ; but of late
these furs have fallen so considerably in value, that the
warren does not produce a tithe of what it did " when
Boney, the Lord speed him ! was uppermost." Indeed,
many a hearty lament is made in Ballycroy for poor
Napoleon, and his name is ever associated with times
of past prosperity.

I cannot describe the melancholy reflections which
crowded over my mind, as I squibbed off my barrels on
the beach, while the boat was crossing the channel to
carry us over the estuary. It was for the last time, and
with that thought, all the happy events I spent by
" flood and fell " passed over my memory in " shadowy
review." The jovial commander, the burly priest, my
merry cousin, the stern homicide, the ancient butler,
and the defunct otter-killer, all were before me. I
trod in fancy the banks of Pullgarrow, or couched among
the rocks of our highland ambuscade ; I saw the startled
pack spring from the purple heather, while the red deer,

Like crested leader proud and high,
Xoss'd his beam'd frontlet to the sky ;
A moment gaz'd adown the dale,
A moment snuff'd the tainted gale —

and vanished in the rocky pass of Meeltramoe. My
imaginary wanderings continued till we landed at the

372 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

pier, and with a deep sigh, I hastened to my chamber,
to make, for the last time, my toilet after a day of sylvan
exercise.

Morning — the last morning has arrived, and all
is bustle and packing up. Travers, though a cold-
blooded Englishman who scarcely can tell a grouse from
a game-cock, seems to feel regret at leaving this hospitable
cabin — old John is sensibly affected — and Alice's black
eyes are dim with weeping. For once she kissed me
without coquetry, and as she received my farewell
present, invoked the Lord to bless me with such
unaffected ardour as proved that her fervent benison
came warmly from the heart.

Over the parting with this rude but affectionate
family I shall hurry. My cousin accompanied me to
Westport, and we left the Lodge after an early dinner,
in full expectation of reaching that town for supper
though the distance is some ten or twelve leagues, and
by an intricate passage with very difficult and perplexing
tides. As if fortune wished to offer me a parting com-
pliment, the wind blew from the north-west, and there
was as much of it as we could well carry our full sails to.
We entered the Bull's Mouth at three-quarter tide,
and brought plenty of water over the sands, and in an
hour cleared the Sound, and rushing through the boiling
currents of Bearnaglee, found ourselves in Clew Bay.
The wind blew fresh and steadily, and at nine o'clock
we were moored along the quay of Westport.

One incident occurred : at a rocky point which ran
from the Achil side into the Sound, and there narrowed
the channel considerably, we observed a human being
couched on a stone among the sea- weed. The deep
water passed within an oar's length of the spot, and as

DEPARTURE FROM CONN AUGHT. 373

the boat flew like a falcon past the point, the man rose
and hailed us. We hove the hooker to. It was
Hennessey — and nothing could dissuade him, not-
withstanding the risk was considerable, from coming
on board to give me a parting escort.

Early next morning I found myself in his majesty's
mail, and with many a sincere adieu, bade farewell to
my kind cousin and his wild but warm-hearted followers.

374 WILD SPORTS OF THE WIST

CHAPTER XL.

HERE I am, safely over the Shannon : a laudable
improvement in the mode and rate of travelling of the
Westport mail facilitates one's intercourse with the
kingdom of Connaught ; and in course of time I have
little doubt but Erris will be as approachable as Upper
Canada, or any of the remoter provinces

After my rambling observations upon men and
manners, you must permit me, like the last lawyer in
a cause, to condense the evidence, and make a general
wind-up.

With regard to the moral condition of the West, I
cannot conscientiously assert that any great improve-
ment will be traced for the last half-century. The
two great classes, the gentry and peasantry, have
undergone a mighty revolution in conduct, manners,
and modes of thinking ; and yet one will look in vain
for commensurate advantages. It is admitted that the
former body have changed their generic character
altogether. We have the old school stigmatized now
for its aristocratic tyranny and petty assumption ; and
many a modern squire blesses God that he is not as
others were who preceded him. And yet our fathers
were, I verily believe, wiser in their generation, and
better fitted for their own times, than we. True, these
days were little better than barbarous. Denis Browne,
and Dick Martin, and Bowes Daly, and many a far-
famed name of minor note, were then in all their glory,
and they lived, it must be acknowledged, in very curious
times. In those days the qualifications of a repre-
sentative were determined by wager of battle, and a

THE WEST, PAST AND PRESENT. 375

rival tor senatorial fame was probably requested by the
old member to provide his coffin before he addressed
the county Doctors rode on horseback over the
country in cauliflower wigs and cocked hats ; and if
they differed about a dose or decoction, referred the
dispute to moral arbitrament. In these happy times,
a client would shoot his counsellor if he lost a cause —
the suitor sought his mistress at pistol-point — and
there was but one universal panacea for every known
evil, one grand remedy for all injuries and insults.

It was then, indeed, a bustling world. Men fought
often, drank deep, and played high ; ran in debt, as a
matter of course ; scattered fairs and markets at their
good pleasure ; put tenants in the stocks ad libitum ;
and cared no more for the liberty of the subject than they
did for the king's writ. Yet were they merry times
Under all these desperate oppressions, the tenants
throve and the peasantry were comfortable. Every
village could point out its rich man — every cabin had
food sufficient for its occupants. When the rent was
required it was ready ; and though a man was sometimes
in the guard -house, his cow was rarely in the pound.
Tempora mutantur ! Who dare now infringe upon
the liberty of the subject ? " Who put my man i' the
stocks ? " would be hallooed from Dingle to Cape Clear.
Doubtless, civil rights are now most scrupulously pro-
tected ; but I suspect that food is abridged in about
the same proportion that freedom is extended.

There was one class of persons who, in these old-
world times, were conspicuously troublesome, who have
since then fortunately disappeared. These were a
nominal description of gentry, the proprietors of little
properties called fodeeins, who continued the names

376 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

and barbarisms of their progenitors. Without industry,
without education, they arrogated a certain place in
society, and idly imitated the wealthier in their vices.
Poverty and distress were natural results, and desperate
means were used to keep up appearances. The wretched
serfs, whom they called their tenants, were ground
to powder, till, happily for society, the Jodeeins passed
into other hands, and the name and place ceased to be
remembered. The ivied walls, and numerous and
slender chimneys one sees in passing through this
country, will, in nine out of ten cases, point a moral
of this sort.

In times like those of forty years ago, this extinct
tribe were, from the peculiar temper and formation of
society, occasionally a sad nuisance. The lord of a
Jodeein, like Captain Mac Turk, was " precisely that
sort of person who is ready to fight with anyone ; whom
no one can find an apology for declining to fight with ;
in fighting with whom considerable danger is incurred ;
and, lastly, through fighting with whom no eclat or
credit could redound to the antagonist." Hence,
generally, the larger proprietors saw this class sink by
degrees, without an attempt to uphold them, and the
Jodeein, to the great joy of the unhappy devils who farmed
it, was appended by general consent to the next estate.

Many examples of dangerous and illegal authority,
as usurped and exercised by the aristocracy within the
last half-century, are on record, that would appear
mere romance to a stranger. One of the Fitzgerald
family was probably more remarkable than any person
of his times. He was the terror of the upper classes —
and to such as arrogated the privileges of the aristocracy,
without, as he opined, a prescriptive right, he was

THE WEST, PAST AND PRESENT. 377

the very devil. If a man aspired to become a duellist,
or even joined the hounds without being the proper
caste, George Robert would flog him from the field with-
out ceremony. He actually for years maintained an
armed banditti, imprisoned his own father, took off
persons who were obnoxious — and when he was hanged
— and fortunately for society this eventually occurred
— it required a grand cavalry and artillery movement
from Athlone to effect it.

Denis Browne was an autocrat of another description ;
a useful blundering bear, who did all as religiously in
the king's name as ever Musselman in that of the prophet.
He did much good and some mischief — imprisoned
and transported as he pleased ; and the peasantry to
this day will tell you that he could hang anyone whom
he disliked. Yet both these men were favourites with
their tenantry, and under them their dependents pros-
pered and waxed wealthy.

Sometimes the memoir of an individual will give a
more graphic picture of the age wherein he flourished
than a more elaborate detail ; and in the strange eventful
histories of these two singular men, the leading
characters of their times will be best portrayed.

No persons were more dissimilar — none were bitterer
enemies — none in every point, personal and physical,
were more essentially opposite. In one point alone
there was a parallel — both were tyrants in disposition,
and both would possess power, and no matter at what
price.

George Robert Fitzgerald was middle-sized, and
slightly but actively formed ; his features were regular,
his address elegant, and his manners formed in the
best style of the French school. In vain the

378 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

physiognomist would seek in his handsome countenance
for some trace of that fierce and turbulent disposition
which marked his short and miserable career. No one,
when he pleased it, could delight society more ; and
with the fair sex he was proverbially successful. It
is said that gallantry, however, was not his forte, and
that he seldom used his persuasive powers with women,
but for objects ultimately pecuniary or ambitious.

Added to his external advantages, he was an educated
man ; and that he possessed no mean literary talent
may be inferred from his celebrated " Apology," which
is neatly and spiritedly written.

His courage was undoubted. In Paris and London
he was noted as a duellist ; and in Mayo, his personal
encounters are still remembered. His duel with Doctor
Martin, his encounter with Csesar French, the most
notorious fire-eaters of the day, placed him foremost
in that class. He was, moreover, a dead shot, and
reported to be one of the ablest swordsmen in the
kingdom. As a sportsman he was justly celebrated.
He was an elegant horseman, and his desperate riding
was the theme of fox-hunters for many a year. No
park-wall or flooded river stopped him — and to this
day, leaps that he surmounted, and points where he
crossed the Turlough river, are pointed out by the
peasantry.

The dark acts which clouded his memory, and his
unhappy fate, are generally known ; and considering
the other traits of his strange and mingling character
the apology offered by his friends on the score of
occasional insanity, is not improbable. One circum-
stance would strengthen this conclusion. He was
interred by night, and with so much privacy, in the

THE WEST, PAST AND PRESENT. 379

old churchyard of Turlough, that the place where his
remains lay was for a time uncertain. Accident in some
degree revealed it. In the confusion attendant upon
his hurried sepulture, it is said that a ring was forgotten
and left upon the finger, Afterwards, in opening
the ground, this relic was discovered ; and what more
satisfactorily proved it was that the skull was distinctly
fractured ; and it was a matter well known, that
Fitzgerald had been dangerously wounded by a pistol-
bullet in the head, in one of his numerous and sanguinary
duels on the continent.

Denis Browne, when a young man, is said to have
been extremely handsome : but early in life he became
corpulent and engrossed in other pursuits, generally
careless and slovenly in his person, and neglected any
means to restrain his constitutional obesity. To strong,
natural abilities he united decision of character and
mental energy. He started in dangerous times ; several
influential families disputed political power with him —
he had a fierce and dangerous aristocracy to overcome
— men cold to every argument " but the last and worst
one," the pistol. Hence in the very outset of his voyage,
his vessel all but foundered. It was his first contest
for the county, and he was opposed by the late Lord
Clanmorris. The Bingham party was bold and powerful,
and after a protracted contest, matters looked gloomily
enough, and the Brownes were likely to be defeated.

" In this dilemma," to use his own words, " I have

applied to Counsellor , my legal adviser. 1 told

him how badly things were, and inquired what was to
be done ?

" ' My dear Denis/ said he, with a grave and serious
movement of his full-bottomed wig, ' the thing admits

380 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

but one remedy, and that lies in a nut-shell. You
are one-and-twenty years old, and you have never yet
been on the sod — why that one fact would lose you
your election — you must fight — my dear boy.'

" ' Fight ! to be sure I will, when I'm insulted.'

" ' Of course you would, and so would anybody ;
but you must fight, and that, too, this very evening.'

" ' Impossible ! how could it be managed ? '

" ' How ! arrah whihst, Denis ! — maybe ye think
I have nothing but law in my head ; you must knock
down Bingham ! '

" ' Knock down a man who never offended me — with
whom I have no dispute ? '

" ' And what does this matter ? The blow will
settle that difficulty. But as you are particular, can't
ye say some friend of his affronted one of yours — some
devil you never heard of will answer — and as John
Bingham is a reasonable man, he'd not lose time in
asking idle questions.'

" Accordingly, I followed this excellent advice, struck
Bingham on the steps of the court-house, was called
out in half an hour, fought in the barrack yard, was
there wounded, and won my election."

From that period Denis Browne rose rapidly into
power. His able brother, the late Marquis of Sligo,
supported him with all his influence and talent. Denis
overcame every obstacle, distanced every competitor,
and at last was absolute in authority, dictator for twenty
years, and ruled the county during that period with a
rod of iron. .

No one was warmer in his friendship or more virulent
in his antipathies. These feelings blinded his better
judgment, and many of his greatest mistakes arose

THE WEST, PAST AND PRESENT. 381

from an anxiety to aggrandize a favourite or annoy an
enemy. He unfortunately outlived his power, and that
circumstance embittered his latter years. He had not
resolution to quit public life while he might have retired
with falat ; he saw his influence expire, and his power
partitioned insensibly among men with whom, but a
few years before, his will was law.

In private life Denis Browne was cheerful and
hospitable. Full of anecdote, an excellent story-teller,
one who had mixed largely with the world and knew
mankind intimately, he was an amusing and instructive
companion. Young and lively society he delighted in ;
and though, from increased corpulency, and all " the
ills that flesh is heir to," life was latterly a burden, the
mind was vigorous to the last — and the death-bed
of Denis Browne was marked with a firmness and
philosophy that was in perfect keeping with the energy
and determination of his life.

Another order of things has succeeded. Men talk
now with horror of acts of oppression and arbitrary
power, which then every country justice committed;
but after all, the times have changed for the worse —
and the outcry about invaded rights and an enslaved
population, was, after all, mere verbiage, " signifying
nothing."

The last fading gleam of western prosperity was
during the power of Napoleon, and with his dynasty
it vanished. The terrible change from war to peace ;
the bursting of the banking bubbles, which supplied
for that time an imaginary capital ; over-population
and high rents, have ruined this wild district, and
reduced its peasantry, with few exceptions, to abject
wretchedness and want.

382 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

Is there for this any remedy ? Cannot modern
landlords, acting on what they call enlightened principles,
remove the causes of distress, and restore the peasantry
to that scale of comfort they enjoyed under the rude
and tyrannical regime of their fathers ? They cannot.
They will talk " scholarly " of tithes and local
taxation, and vainly attribute the insolvency of their
tenants to these and such like causes ; this is vox et
prceterea nihil — an unreal and fanciful conceit. The
true cause of the misery of the western population is
over-population and excessive rents ; and before the
peasantry could be tolerably comfortable, the lands
must, on the average, be lowered at least one-third
Even then, at present prices, the occupant will be hardly
able to manage to pay the rent and live.

But can the landlords do this ? Can they afford to
equalize their rental to the times, and throw a third
portion from their nominal income overboard : They
cannot. The majority of the owners of western estates,
from family burdens and national unthriftiness, are
heavily and hopelessly encumbered ; and a reduction
on such scale as would be necessary to ensure their
tenants' comforts, would completely pauperize
themselves. Hence, to keep off the evil day, every
pretext but the true one will be assigned for local
wretchedness — and every reason but the right one
offered to the starving tenant, to persuade him that
ruinous rents will never occasion want and poverty.

In personal appearance, the western peasantry are
very inferior to those of the other divisions of the
kingdom. Generally, they are undersized and by no
means so good-looking as their southern neighbours —
and I would say, in other points they are equally deficient.

THE WEST, PAST AND PRESENT. 383

To overcome their early lounging gait and slovenly
habits, is found by military men a troublesome task ;
and while the Tipperary man speedily passes through
the hands of the drill-sergeant, the Mayo peasant requires
a long and patient ordeal, before a martial carriage
can be acquired, and he be perfectly set-up as a soldier.
These defects once conquered, none are better cal-
culated for the profession. Hardy, active, patient
in wet and cold, and accustomed to indifferent and
irregular food, he is admirably adapted to endure the
privations and fatigue incident to a soldier's life on
active service — and in dash and daring, no regiments
in the service hold a prouder place than those which
appertain to the kingdom of Connaught.

It is said that the physical appearance of the Irish
peasantry deteriorates as the northern and western
sea-coasts are approached ; and, certainly, on the
latter the population are very inferior to that of the
adjacent counties. Even the inhabitants of different
baronies in the same county, as their locality advances
inland, will be found to differ materially ; and in an
extensive cattle-fair, the islander will be as easily dis-
tinguished from the borderer, whether he be on the
Galway or Roscommon frontier, as from the stock-
master of Leinster, or the jobber from the North.

Indeed, fifty years back, the communication between
the islands and the interior was so difficult and
unfrequent, that the respective occupants looked on
each other as very strangers. Naturally, slowly as
civilization crept westward, the islands and remoter
coasts, from local causes, were last visited, and many
curious circumstances to this day would prove it. In
this age of machinery, when the minutest matters are

384 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

produced by its agencies, and the lowest occupations
of human labour are transacted by powers unknown
to our fathers, there are extensive tracts upon the western
portions of the island, where even a mill has never
been erected, and where the corn is prepared for distil-
lation or food by the same rude methods used by
barbarous nations one thousand years ago. Trituration
between two stones, by the hand labour of an individual,
is the means employed to reduce the corn into meal ;
and the use of that ancient hand-mill the querne, is still
general throughout Ballycroy and the islands on the
coast.

The inhabitants of this district are extremely hos-
pitable to passing travellers, but by no means fond of
encouraging strangers to sojourn permanently among
them. This latter inherent prejudice may arise from
clannish feelings, or ancient recollections of how much
their ancestors were spoliated by former settlers, who
by artifice and the strong hand managed to possess the
better portions of the country. They are also absurdly
curious and will press their questions with American
pertinacity, until, if possible, the name, rank, and
occasion of his visit, is fully and faithfully detailed
by the persecuted traveller.

The credulity of these wild people is amazing, and
their avidity for news, if possible, exceeded by the
profound reliance they place in the truth of the intel-
ligence. Hence, the most absurd versions of passing
events circulate over the district — and reports prevail,
by turns, of a ridiculous or mischievous tendency,
generally according to the mental temperament of the
story-teller.

It formerly was not uncommon for people in the

THE WEST, PAST AND PRESENT. 385

islands to live and die without ever having seen a town.
Of course, they were a simple and unsophisticated
race — and their natural mistakes, if they did by accident
come in collision with other beings, were the source
of many an inland jest. One very old story is told,
in which an Achil man is the hero ; and as to its truth,
old Antony would as soon have doubted the existence
of the holy trout in Kilgeever,* as have questioned its
authenticity.

An islander was once obliged to go into the town of
Castlebar upon business ; and among other marvellous
things which there met his sight, he was particularly
struck with the appearance of an earthen jar in a shop-
window. He inquired what this unknown article might
be, and was informed that it was a mare's egg, which
if placed beside the fire during the winter, would infal-
libly produce a foal the ensuing spring. The price
was moderate, and the Achil man determined to possess
the treasure, and thus become master of a horse. Having
effected the purchase, he set out on his way rejoicing
— and before evening fell, came within view of his own
home, and sat down upon a heathy bank to rest himself.
He placed his recent acquisition beside him — but alas !
from its spherical form, it rolled down the hill, and,
striking against a rock at the bottom, was shivered by
the blow. A hare which had couched beneath the stone,
startled at the crash, sprang from her form, and went
off at speed. The unhappy Achil man gazed in an
agony of despair, after what he believed the emancipated
quadruped — and then exclaimed with a bitter groan,
" Mona mon diaoul ! What a horse he would have

* A sacred well in the west, tenanted by a trout of surpassing
sanctity.

386 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

been ! — Lord ! if he was but two years old ! the Devil
himself would not catch him"

Now, the most curious part oi this story is, that
although a standing joke upon Achil simplicity for a
century, it is to be found verbatim in a German jest-
book, with this only difference, that a gourd is there
substituted for a jar.

In alluding to the strange employments of the female
peasantry, I noticed those coarse and laborious exercises
which elsewhere are confined to the lords of the creation.
That the appearance of the fair inhabitants of the western
highlands should harmonize with their rude avocations
might be expected ; and hence the female peasantry,
in personal advantages, are very inferior indeed to those
of the interior. The constant exposure to sun and
storm injures the complexion, and gives them an old
and faded look ; and the habit of dispensing with shoes
renders the feet large and misshapen. Among the
Coryphe'es who frequented our mountain balls, there
was but one girl who might be termed decidedly hand-
some. Her face was uncommonly intelligent — I never
saw so dark an eye, and her teeth were white as ivory.
But there was a natural ease in all she did — whether she
brought a pitcher from the spring, or danced a merry
strathspey, every movement was graceful. Even her
simple toilet evinced instinctive taste, though no corset
was required to regulate a form moulded by the hand
of Nature, and her magnificent hair boasted no arrange-
ment beyond the simple cincture of a ribbon —

But seldom was a snood amid
Such wild luxuriant ringlets hid,
Whose glossy black to shame might bring
The plumage of a raven's wing.

THE WEST, PAST AND PRESENT. 387

And yet I have seen that young beauty bending beneath
a basket of potatoes which would have overloaded me —
and, on one occasion, carry a strapping fellow across
the river, who was coming on some state affair to the
cabin, which, as he conceived, required him to appear
in the presence with dry legs.

On the score of propriety of conduct, I would assign
the female peasantry of this district a high place.
When the habits of the country are considered, one
would be inclined to suspect that excessive drinking,
and the frequent scenes of nocturnal festivities which
wakes and dances present, would naturally lead to
much immorality. This, however, is not the case : —
broken vows will no doubt occasionally require the
interference of the magistrate or the priest ; but
generally the lover makes the only reparation in his
power, and the deceived females and deserted children
are seldom seen in Erris.

388 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

CHAPTER XLI.

IF ever a district were designed by Nature for field
sports, a person, from even a cursory glance upon the
map, would point to Mayo. Its great extent of
mountain surface, interspersed with bogs and morasses
— its numerous and expansive waters — and its large
tracts of downs and feeding-grounds, render it available
for every purpose of the sportsman ; and few species
of game indigenous to Britain, in their peculiar
seasons, will here be sought in vain.

As a hunting county, the plains have been justly
chronicled — and the adjacent counties of Galway and
Roscommon yield to none in the empire. The extensive
sheep-farms afford superior galloping-ground — and the
fences, though few and far between, from their size
and character, require a powerful horse and dashing
rider. Hence, in the annals of fox-hunting, the bipeds
and quadrupeds of Connaught are held in due estima-
tion ; and it has been stated, without contradiction,
that in their own country no men or horses can compete
with them.

During the last century, the West of Ireland was
celebrated for its breed of horses. They were of that
class denominated " the old Irish hunter," — a strong,
well-boned, and enduring animal, that without any
pretension to extraordinary speed, was sufficiently fast
for fox-hounds, an excellent weight-carrier, and, better
still, able to live with any dogs and in any country.
As fencers, this breed was unequalled ; and for a crack
hunter to carry ten or eleven stone over six feet six of

HORSES AND HOUNDS. 389

solid masonry, was no extraordinary event ; — seven
feet has been achieved repeatedly — and there are still,
I have no doubt, many horses in the province capable
of performing the latter feat. But, alas ! this noted
class of hunters is now comparatively rare — a higher-
blooded, and, as all admit, an inferior caste, has been
substituted — the racing hunter fills the stables that
formerly were occupied by the old Roscommon weight-
carrier — and in a few years this celebrated and valuable
animal will be seldom seen. The number of English
thorough-bred horses introduced within the last thirty
years into the Connaught racing studs, gradually in-
troduced a slight and unserviceable hybrid — and, too
late, gentlemen discovered the error of endeavouring
to procure a cross, which should combine increased
speed with those durable qualities that alone can enable
a horse, under reasonable weight, to live with fast hounds
in a country where they can go for miles without a
check, and where the leaps are always severe, and
occasionally tremendous.

Of the riders, it may be observed that, much as Con-
naught has been celebrated for desperate horsemanship,
no charge of degeneracy will lie against the present
race. To the curious in break-neck fencing, I would
recommend a sojourn with a Connaught club — or if
that should be inconvenient, a visit to the steeple-chases
on the plains or at Knockcroghery would be sufficient —
he will there see six feet walk especially built " for the
nonce," under the inspection ot conscious stewards,
who would give nothing but honest measure, taken
at racing speed, and that too in the middle of a bunch
ot gentlemen, who would ride over an adopted child ; —
or let him join a drag after a champagne lunch at Lord

3QO WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

C.'s ; — let him do this, and then form his estimate
of Connaught horsemanship.

A mistake prevails in England, as to the supposed
inferiority in value of the horses commonly employed
by the Western sportsmen. I have seen a field out,
when, of twelve horses, ten would probably average
at one hundred guineas each ; and the remaining two
(brothers, Jerry and Lancet) were reported to have
cost the noble owner five hundred guineas apiece.
When the dangers of a stone-wall country and the
desperate riding of the men are considered, these are
indeed sporting prices. And yet accidents of a serious
character are not frequent; every horse that has been ridden
to hounds is generally blemished more or less ; but it
is astonishing in such a country and with such riders,
how long some noble hunters have lasted.

The hounds, with few exceptions, are inferior. They
are seldom properly kennelled, or regularly hunted.
Masters of hounds in the West seem careless to all
considerations beyond having a pack that can go high
and keep tolerably well together. In sizing and
draughting dogs they are by no means particular,
and hence the ensemble of many a kennel is materially
injured. In home management and field turnout,
they are infinitely behind their English brethren — the
packs are carelessly hunted — the kennel servants badly
appointed — and I have met men upon the plains able
to take a horse over anything that hand and heart could
carry him, who to a stranger would appear, from " the
wildness of their attire," to be desperate apprentices
levanting with their master's property.

And yet, after this eulogy upon the splendid horse-
manship of the Western gentlemen, it may appear

HORSES AND HOUNDS. 39 1

singular that I add, few of them ride well to hounds.
An impatience in the field, and the anxiety to be foremost
where all are forward, interferes constantly with
the dogs, and causes a pressure upon the pack, very
unfavourable to good hunting. Riding rather at the
field than to the hounds, is the prevailing error, Fences
are crossed which would be better evaded — horses
unnecessarily distressed ; and I have seen a man
actually go out of his way to take a regular rasper when
he had a gap within thirty yards.

Game in Mayo would be much more abundant than
it is were it not sadly thinned by irregular shooters,
and an infinity of vermin. To prevent the spoliations
of the former would be a difficult task — as, from the
quantity of wild fowl that every winter brings to the
Western shores, a number of guerilla sportsmen are
employed or countenanced by the resident gentry ;
to whom it is too strong a temptation, when lying for
ducks, or stealing upon plovers, to discover a pack or
covey grouped upon the snow, and yet have sufficient
philosophy to keep the finger from the trigger. The
vermin, however, are the main cause of the scarcity
of game, and no means are taken to destroy these
marauders. From the eagle to the sparrow-hawk,
every variety abounds in the woods and mountains,
and every species of kite and crow that an ornithologist
would admire, and a sportsman abominate, infests the
Western counties.

Of fallow deer, there is a large stock in the parks
throughout the province — and buck-hunting has of
late seasons been getting into fashion on the plains.
I have already, in speaking of the red-deer, lamented
the prospect of their extinction. That event I look

392 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

upon as fast approaching — and I am convinced that
nothing can avert this national calamity but a vigorous
determination of the mountain proprietors to extend
protection to those limited herds which are still found,
though in lessened numbers, upon the Alpine heights
bordering on Burrishoole and Tyrawley.

Foxes are tolerably abundant in the hunting districts,
and mischievously so in the mountains and islands.
From the latter any quantity could be procured, and
there is no place in Britain where covers could be so
easily formed, and stocked with less trouble and expense.
I have seen healthy foxes for days hawked over the
country before a purchaser could be found, and at last
disposed of for a few shillings. I once bought a fine
dog-fox for half-a-crown, and, had I not become his
owner, I verily believe the captor must have turned him
out upon the street.

Hares are in most places tolerably plentiful ; in point
of numbers differing according to local situation and
the relative protection afforded to them. In the moors,
the mountain hares are scarce ; but, from the quantity
of winged and four-footed vermin, it is surprising that
so many are occasionally seen.

Rabbits abound in the West of Ireland. On the
coast, the immense sand-banks are for miles perforated
with their burrows — and, notwithstanding that they
are unmercifully abandoned to cur-dogs, cats, and
vermin, their numbers continue unabated. In the
woods and coppices bush rabbits are numerous, and
cover-shooters, when beating for woodcocks, will have
their amusement diversified by many a running shot.

Other wild animals, in every variety, may be met
with in parts of Connaught. Badgers and wild cats,

HORSES AND HOUNDS. 393

martins and weasels will be found in their customary
haunts ; while on the coast and estuaries, the lakes
and inland waters, seals and otters are plentiful in the
extreme.

Of winged game, pheasants and partridges excepted,
I have already spoken. With regard to the first, they
are scarce, and, it would appear, difficult to rear in this
moist and stormy climate. I speak only of the places
contiguous to the coast, where the experiment has been
tried ; for inland, where they have been duly attended
to, and the English system adopted, they have thriven
amazingly. As to partridges, they are generally scarce,
and in Erris and Ballycroy almost unknown. In the
wheat counties, and especially in certain parts of Galway,
I believe they are tolerably abundant — but by com-
parison with the quantity a sportsman meets in an
English beat, the best partridge-shooting procurable
in Connaught will be very indifferent indeed.

My task is ended — I have chronicled " the short
but simple annals " of a sporting summer, passed in
a remote and unfrequented corner of the earth, and
protracted until " winter and rough weather " forbade
a longer stay. Into these solitudes I carried prejudices
as unfair as they were unfavourable — I came prepared
to dislike a people who, unhappily for themselves,
are little known and less regarded. I found my
estimate of their character false, for kindnesses were
returned tenfold, and the native outbreakings of Milesian
hospitality met me at every step. What though the
mountaineer had nothing but his potato-basket to
offer — it was freely open to my hand. Did I wander
from the road ? his loy* was left in the furrow, and
* Lay, a narrow spade.

394 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

he ran miles to put me in the right path. If it rained
and I sheltered in a cabin, the hearth was swept, the
driest log placed upon the fire, and the bed-covering
taken off to keep my saddle from the shower. If possible,
my wishes were anticipated — and labour was unheeded
when my pleasure or comfort could be attained.

One incident I must mention, for it marks the
character of this simple and devoted peasantry. It
was the hottest of the dog-days, and we had toiled
over a barren moor, and missed some packs that we
were aware were in that neighbourhood. A hill of
most discouraging altitude was before us — and as its
face was difficult beyond description, I hesitated to
attempt it. But beyond it was a land of promise —
a valley where wonders might be expected — and malgre
fatigue, I did muster courage for the ascent. I gave
my gun to a young peasant who acted as my henchman,
and, as he was already loaded heavily, I observed him
stagger more than once before we gained the summit.
Throughout the day he never left my side — when the
river was forded, he led the way — and yet I observed
that he was unusually flushed, and at times sighed heavily.
When we reached the cabin, he tottered to a seat, and
the next moment became insensible. Then, and not
till then, the truth was disclosed ; he had been attacked
with measles on the preceding night ; but rather than
surrender his post to another, he actually, and under
the fever of the disease, worked for twelve hours
beneath a burning sun. Old Antony, by some simple
means, brought the eruption plentifully to the skin,
and in another week my gallant henchman was at my
side, without any apparent trace of lassitude.

I have left these mountains, and never shall i enjoy

HORSES AND HOUNDS. 395

the unalloyed excitement — the calm, luxurious solitude,
which I found among their wastes. What has re-
finement to offer me in exchange ? Will the over-
stocked preserve replace the moorland chase, with its
glorious ridge of purple highlands — its silver lake,
and sparkling river — my wild followers — my tried
friends — and the dear cabin and its snowy tent, peeping
from the dark expanse of heather, like a white sea-bird
from the lap of ocean ? Alas ! nothing will compensate
for these — or give me an equivalent for the joyous inter-
course with kindred spirits, which I realized and left
in the wilds of Bally croy.

THE ENa

NOTES ON SOME IRISH WORDS

USED IN WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST.

Maxwell, though he must have been listening to Irish
spoken round him every day of his life, does not appear
to have really understood it, though he picked up a
number of words, the correct spelling of most of which
is given here : —

" Sha sha " = 'p e^t), 'f eA"6, i.e., " it is, it is." This
sometimes answers to the English " yes," but only when
the verb "is " is employed.

Avorneen — A ttiuipnin, i.e., " darling."

Page 23, Hamish is the vocative case of Sharnus
i.e., " James." Maxwell confounded the nominative and
vocative. Hamish-a-neilan = Se.Atn.Ar An OileAin.

Bawn = bAn, white.

Page 24, bokkogh = bACAC ; " lame."

Page 30, clachan = " a village," from clach or cloch
" a stone," is more common in Scotland than Ireland.

Page 33, cus dhu = cop -out), i.e., black foot.

Page 36, briddawn = bf\A*oAn, a salmon, as if written
bnio-OAn with a broad b.

Page 37, mona mon diaoul = m'AnAm 6'n •oiAft^l, ie.,
" my soul from the devil," a curse turned adroitly into a
blessing.

Mortien Beg = tTUipcin "be^s = Little Martin.

Page 41, Shawn a tra buoy — Se^n riA C|\A$' bunie.

Page 56, Tiggim Tigue Thigien = UtiijexMin C^-og
CAi-ogin. The m in the first word ought to be n.
Maxwell's ear played him false.
396

NOTES ON SOME IRISH WORDS USED 397

Page 87, calliogh — CAiUeAC, often translated in
Connacht as " presty."

Page 91, pieberagh — piobaipe. The gh ought to be
omitted, there is no guttural sound.

Page 95, bollogh — bAllAc, " speckled spotted."
Maxwell means bollav = tMlb, dumb or stuttering.

Page 129, Cead Fealtagh, a dreadful spelling for the
sound of " Caed Faultia " — CeAt) police, " a hundred
welcomes."

Page 141, leprehawn = teitpfioc^n, probably derived
from Uij-coppAn " small bodied one," a little fairy.

Page 142, farsett = pe^nfAit) " a tide way." Belfast
is a corruption of Bel-farsett. In Irish, t)e^t-pei|\rce,
or the " mouth of the farsett."

Page 146, for dignita tern read dignitatem ; Page 153,
for " but not" read "not but."

Page 167 drimindhu is a poem and air, in Irish
•ofunmfMonn "ouo, i.e., " the black white- backed," a name
for a pet cow, but allegorical of Ireland.

Page 171, cota more = CGC.A mop, " great coat."
Page 185, middoge, in Irish 0110-065, once apparently a
formidable dagger, Scotch Gaelic " biodag," which is the
same word, but now fallen from its high estate, and
often used of any old knife.

Page 193, boollie, Irish btuite, " a milking or herding
place for cows."

Page 210, crughadore = cpocA-o6in, "a hangman," ;
mogh-a-droul, perhaps for m^c x\n T)i4tt4il, "son of the
devil."

Page 218, neil an skeil a gau maun = ni't Aon rcil
ASAtn Ann, " I have no skill in it." Maxwell has joined
the m to the wrong word. He does this twice, which
shows he had little knowledge of Irish.

Page 218, far a gurta = peup A jofxu-A, " the famine
grass ;" some people say pe<\|\ A' sopcA, " the famine
man."

398 NOTES ON SOME IRISH WORDS USED.

Page 219, Eimineein = ^Amomnin, "Little Edmund."
Page 223, tho she mur tho she, agus neil she gun

lought = CA fi tnAp CA fi, A^uf ni't r-i gAti tocc, " she is
as she is, and she's not without fault."

Page 233, craig na moina does not seem to mean rock
of slaughter.

Page 247, ceade fealteagh (See page 129)

Page 247, cur coddiogh ?

Page 250, patre o' pee, probably from the French
" battre de pieds. For acoronach read " a coronach/' the
last being more Scotch than Irish.

Page 280, Rookaun = PUCATI, " a row."

Page 302, petka more = ? pice is a pike, to stab with,
but the fish is "liup " or "510^05," so it is only in a
translation there would be any cross-purposes.

Page 327, neil an skil a gau maun, (See page 218.)

Page 333, badahust, hanam on dioul = bi -oo tor-c,
ti'AriAm 6'n THAbAl, i.e., " be silent, your soul from the
devil. (See page 37).

Page 335, skuddawn, the Western pronunciation of
r-CA-OAn, a " herring."

Page 336, line 3, for " word " read " world."

Page 341, crowour keough = cjveAbAp CAOC, i.e., blind
woodcock.

Page 346, Nora crina, a well-known song and air. 116f\A
c|\ionA, pronounced Nora creeona, " wise Nora."

Page 351, crowour keough beg = cpAOAbAfx CAOC be^g.

Page 359, kearne, perhaps ceiteAjmAch, which
originally meant a foot-soldier.

Page 375, fodeeins - Irish, poi-oini, i.e., "little sods,"
i.e., small estates or farms.